3 AUDIOBOOK COLLECTIONS

6 BOOK COLLECTIONS
LIFE !
REALIZED !!
MY JOURNEY OF SELF-REALIZATION

By
 LIFE !
REALIZED !!
MY JOURNEY OF SELF-REALIZATION

By

Copyright © AiR Institute of Realization 2019

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 A er 50 years of living life
and learning everything I know,
I suddenly got the shock of my life…
Who I am… I do not know!
My master led me to start a quest,
e Truth for me to nd…
is book is my Life Realization,
I am not the Ego, Body or Mind!
 PREFACE
As an author of 25 books on life, happiness, and
almost on everything that matters in the life journey,
I realized that what mattered the most is my Life
Realization. I really don't know why but some say I
am blessed, others call it the Divine grace, still others
believe it is my devotion and dedication that led me
to Realize the Truth.

I too, like anybody else, spent 25 years chasing

peak of happiness, Achievement when I realized that

such a peak doesn't exist. We simply crave till our
grave because our greed overtakes our need. I
transformed my life and started living with

Still, my life was scattered with suffering although I

considered myself to be the happiest man in the
world. There was no clear purpose in my life and
thus, I started a Quest.

My quest comprised nine major questions:

1. We all know how a child is conceived and born,

but how is life created in the womb?

2. What happens after death? The body dies but what

happens to the one who was alive?

3. We all believe in God but what is the reality? Who

is God? Where is God? What is God?
4. Most people believe in heaven or hell but where are
they located?

5. Does a law of action and reaction, a law called

Karma actually exist?

6. It is said that our actions of this life will be the cause

of our rebirth. Will we be reborn after we die? Is the
theory of rebirth or reincarnation really true?

7. We all talk about our Soul but what exactly is the

Soul?

8. What is the purpose of a human being on earth?

9. What is enlightenment, salvation, liberation, Mukti,

Moksha or Nirvana? All religions talk of this being our
ultimate goal but what exactly is this?

With these nine questions in my mind and hundreds

of books in my bag, I set out
Truth. Little did I know that we human beings are
covered by a blanket of ignorance. We do not know
the Truth although we believe we know everything.

“Man has discovered cosmetics for the

who is the one that lives within. He has

been able to put satellites in outer
space but he hasn't found out where his
Life Energy goes at the end of the race.”
Having realized many Truths about life, profound
discoveries that may be penned in several books, I
decided to put all my realizations together and share
them with the world.

This is my Life! Realized!!

LIFE !
REALIZED !!
My Journey of Self-Realization

by
 my realizations!

1 Happiness is a Journey, not a Destination 01-02

Life is to be Lived, and not to

2 03-04
Zoom from Womb to Tomb

3 Success is not Happiness. Happiness is Success! 05-06

4 Do we Earn for others to Burn what we Earn? 07-08

Achievement gives Pleasure but Ful llment gives

5
Joy and Peace 09-10

6 What is the Cause of Misery?

11-12

7 What is the Purpose of Life?

13-14

8 The Questions that had no Answers

15-16

9 I am Not the Body

17-18

10 Where is the Mind? We cannot Find! 19-20

 my realizations!

11 Who am I? 21-22

12 We Live in Ignorance 23-24

13 I will Never Die 25-26

14 Who controls this Universe? 27-28

15 Who is God? Where is God? What is God? 29-30

16 Life on Earth is a Cosmic Drama 31-32

17 e Universal Law of Karma 33-34

18 e Mysterious 4 æ Factor 35-36

19 ere is a way to Suff er No More! 37-38

20 We all need a Life Coach 39-40

21 Nobody really goes to Heaven or Hell 41-42

22 We are the Life Energy within 43-44

 my realizations!
23 Time is not moving, it is still. We are moving
45-46

24 Knowledge is not Realization

47-48

25 Our ultimate Goal is Liberation

49-50

26 e Intellect is not the Mind

51-52

27 Detachment and Dispassion reduce Anxiety

53-54

28 Discipline is the key to Realization

55-56

Yoga is not just Physical Gymnastics. 57-58

29 It is Union with the Divine

30 We Destroy our own Peace

59-60

31 Happiness is in the Now

61-62

32 We believe in Myths
63-64

33 We are fooled by the Cosmic Illusion – Maya

65-66

Every Eff ect has a Cause and we are just the

34 Eff ects
67-68
 my realizations!
PuriJcation, Illumination,
69-70
35 and Uni cation are our three Final Steps

36 ere can be no Freedom from Action

71-72

37 We will be Reborn, unless…

73-74

38 Self-realization is not a Discovery

75-76

39 e War within will Continue

77-78

40 We can live with Everlasting Peace and Joy

79-80

41 Everything beautiful is Divine

81-82

42 Religion is the Kindergarten to Spirituality

83-84

43 Realization eliminates Suff ering

85-86

We must Accept, Not wonder

87-88
44 and Replace Hope with Surrender

45 My biggest Enemy is ME
89-90

46 What is Life all about?

91-92
 my realizations!

47 It's a Metamorphosis, not a Transformation 93-94

48 We are Embodied Souls 95-96

49 Why Fear, Worry or Regret? 97-98

50 Self-Realization leads to God-Realization 99-100

51 ere is a limit to Human Comprehension 101-102

52 Living as the Happiest man in the World 103-104

MY SELF REALIZATION - PU ING IT 105

ALL TOGETHER

POEM 106-114

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 115-126

1
01 Happiness is a Journey,
not a Destination
Who doesn't want to be happy? The whole world seems
to be seeking pleasure and shunning pain but
unfortunately, most of humanity isn't truly happy. Of
course, we smile and we laugh but we live life like a
merry-go-round, passing joy and sorrow in circles. Our
life is like a yo-yo, we go up and down from a peak to a
valley as we experience the highs and lows of life. Why?

I realized that human beings are unhappy because we

think that happiness is a destination. We think that we
have to arrive at happiness, but happiness is not a place
to go to. It is not a destination. It is the journey itself.

I realized that people let their need become their

greed and thus they desire and crave till they reach

we get disappointed and miserable. Far happier are

Most people are not content with their achievement. It is

natural to pursue loftier peaks of achievements. When
we achieve our goal, we become happy. But we don't
stop there. We want to go to the next and then, the next
peak, till we think we have reached our destination. But
we don't realize that Happiness is not a destination. It is
a journey. It is all about enjoying today, the moment.
Because people do not enjoy the journey, they continue
to seek and crave and are often unhappy.

When will people realize this truth, that when we become

happy, it is usually momentary? We cannot become

2
 Happiness is a Journey, not a Destination

happy, we have to be Happy, because Happiness is a

state of mind. We cannot be Happy yesterday, it is
gone! We cannot be Happy tomorrow, it is not yet
born. But we can be Happy NOW. So, whatever be
our journey of life, whatever be our circumstances, we
must choose to be Happy.

Once I realized that Happiness is not reaching the

ultimate goal but rather it is the path itself, I changed
my paradigm of life. I did not wait for happiness to
arrive. I made sure to live each moment joyously,
peacefully, and blissfully no matter what. We can all
be happy all the time if we choose to be happy
realizing that happiness is a journey not a destination.

3
02 Life is to be Lived, and not to
Zoom from Womb to Tomb
Most of us don't truly live. We rush through life.
From the time we are born, we think that life is a race
and we must be an ace and we get caught in a maze.
Soon life is over and what did we do? We just
zoomed from the womb to the tomb.

I realized that life is a gift. That's why this moment is

called the 'Present'. But we lose the moment because we
are just running through life. I met a friend who went to
Amsterdam and I asked him if he had the chance to visit
the Tulip Gardens in Keukenhof. Although he was in
Amsterdam for three days, he said that he had no time
because he was in a rush to visit all the museums. He
listed the dozens of museums he had visited. But in
reality, he hadn't seen anything meaningful. Most of us
don't spend the moment being fully conscious of it. We
lose the NOW because our mind is so busy planning
what we must do next and so our 'today' is lost in the
construction of 'tomorrow'. Eventually, tomorrow never
comes. All we have is today, but we want to trade our
today for a better tomorrow which doesn't even exist.
How many of us stop to enjoy a beautiful sunset, to
spend time with those we love, to do those things we
are truly passionate about? The most common thing we
hear is – I had no time!

Each of us has 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour

and we can't buy more time. We must learn to live and
not just exist rushing through life. Ask an 80-year-old
what regret he or she has. You will hear a list of things
they wished they could do that they haven't done. “If I
get a chance to live my life once more, I would climb
4
 Life is to be Lived, and not to Zoom from Womb to Tomb

more mountains, learn to play the guitar, and spend

more time with my loved ones.” This is the story of
people who didn't stop to think that their life was
escaping them.

However, there are people, a few of course, who don't

just zoom through life. They live life moment by
moment and they enjoy each day as it comes. They
are not slaves of their passion. They treasure life.
These are the people who have no regrets as their
journey of life unfolds.

I realized that life is not meant to be rushed. We think

that time is rushing by but I lived life as if time was
still and I was passing by. I too zoomed through life
for 25 years thinking that success, achievement,
money, and pleasure were everything. But I realized
that I was wrong. Now I spend moments in peace and
bliss as I watch the swaying of the trees, the waves in
the seas and enjoy the blowing of the breeze.

Life is a precious treasure. We can't rewind it, we have

to live it. And those who zoom through life, don't truly
enjoy the beauty life has to offer. I realized that we must
stop, enjoy the moment, and enjoy this gift called life.
Otherwise, we will just go from our womb to our tomb
without really living. Have you ever thought about it?
We are 'human beings', not 'human doings'. We must be
conscious of our life and enjoy it while we live.

5
03 Success is not Happiness.

Happiness is Success!
Most of humanity lives wanting to be achievers,
wanting to succeed. Why? Because we believe that
Success is Happiness. Everybody wants to achieve
something - money, name, fame - hoping that this
achievement will give them the happiness they desire.
But this is a myth.

I realized a profound Truth – Success is not

happiness. If success was happiness, then the rich and
famous, the wealthy, successful people in the world
would be glad. But if we look around,
that many of them are sad.

Sure, success may give us name and fame but it doesn't

promise happiness. Success is built on principles like
desire and passion. These very principles often lead to
disappointment and misery. Therefore, while success
gives pleasure it also creates pain.

I realized that Success is not Happiness. Happiness is

Success. My realizations were based on the fact that we
all want to succeed because we want to be happy but
success doesn't guarantee happiness. On the other hand,

This is the very objective of succeeding. Therefore, I

realized that we don't need to be successful to be happy.
In fact, we need to be happy to be successful. Think
about it. The whole world is trying to achieve
something. Why? Because they believe that their
achievement will give them joy and bliss. However,
they lose their peace of mind in their chase to become an
ace. This peace is the very foundation of

6
 Success is not Happiness. Happiness is Success!

happiness. Instead, I realized there were people who

were not highly successful but they had achieved

truly happy people. Weren't they more successful

than the millionaires who could not sleep peacefully
every night?

I realized that successful people lived stressful lives

trying to protect their wealth, fame, and their title.
Isn't it known to all of us that none of this is
permanent? These very successful people end their
life in misery and pain because they don't realize that
Success is not Happiness, Happiness is Success.

I realized this Truth after I reached 40. Now I live

being happy, rather than chasing success. I realized
that happiness comes from spending money, not just
by making it. I learned this from a peer who was
dying of cancer on a hospital bed. He said, “If only I
had spent my life spending my money rather than
just making it, I would have died a happier man.”

Isn't it time to realize this Truth? Isn't it time to resolve

to be happy rather than to be successful? Human beings
seem to be paralyzed with this myth that success is
happiness and they waste their entire life trying to be
successful. What would it gain a man if he achieves the
whole world but loses his peace and happiness? After
all, all he wishes to achieve is happiness, isn't it?

7
04 Do we Earn for others to
Burn what we Earn?
Many people around the world believe that they must
earn and earn and earn. It's strange because they don't
need more than what they already have. They seem to
be earning for future generations. Shouldn't they rather
spend before their end on meaningful causes?

Looking at the world and its millionaires and

billionaires, I have not only realized a profound
Truth, but also made some important resolutions in
my own life. What did I observe? These are some real-
life examples.

There was a rich man, an Indian who was a multi-millionaire.

It was strange but he wore the same few shirts and dhotis, a
pair of Indian pants, again and again. He was so stingy that
he did not even buy a new bicycle although he had so much
money. One day he died. Within a few days, his son bought a
Ferrari and I wondered, “Is this why he earned so much
money?” What he earned, his son burned. He never
spent his money helping others, serving others. To me,
his wealth was a complete waste.

On the other side of the world, I saw people spending

their money building public libraries, charitable
homes, and hospitals. Their philosophy was to spend
their hard earned money on meaningful things before
their end, for when they would die, the world would
cry because of the wonderful people that they were.

This realization made me resolve that I would provide

enough for my near and dear ones but would not let
others burn what I earn. Today as I live, I believe that I

8
 Do we Earn for others to Burn what we Earn?

am a Trustee of the wealth that is in my hands and I

must make good use of it. We take care of 600 poor and
destitute people whom we pick from the streets and
they live as residents in our three charitable homes. Not
only do we provide food and shelter for them but we

way to spend what we earn! It gives so much peace, joy,

ublishing
spiritual books and conducting talks that will help

letting others burn what we earn.

resources I am blessed with, I wonder why wealthy

people in this world keep their money and assets till
they die. Don't they know that they have no control of
it after their death? Don't they see that the recipients
of their wealth will not use the wealth like the one
who earned would? Should we not spend our money,
use our money while we are alive rather than letting
it be squandered after our death? Wealth is a resource
that we must use, for if we don't use it, we will lose it.
I realized that the rich and famous are insecure and
thus, they do not spend. They are fearful of what
would happen if they spent all their money and later
needed it. While this is a valid thought, it does not
justify us hoarding our money till we die. We must
ensure we secure ourselves with our wealth but we
must remember our wealth is ours, and we must use
our wealth effectively and plan our legacy before we
depart from earth. I thought this to be one of the most
profound realizations of my life.

9
 Achievement gives Pleasure but

05 Fulfillment gives Joy and Peace

Everybody wants to be happy but not everyone
knows what creates happiness. Of course, success and
achievement create thrill, money, name, fame, and
pleasure that propel the world to succeed. However,
along with the pleasure, achievers experience stress,
anxiety, and fear among other poisonous emotions
that make them miserable.

I realized that it was great to be an achiever but I also

realized that my greed had overtaken my need. We
all believe that we need to achieve “enough” but none
of us really knows how much is enough.

I realized that there was a second peak of happiness

which was, in fact, a plateau of peace and joy. I call it

came from my achievements but I realized that the joy

and peace that came from making a difference rather

What was my realization? As an achiever, I was

achieve success and happiness. I also experienced

regret and wished I had not done what I did, but
what could have I done if I wanted to succeed? I had
to! After all, everyone does it. Haven't we heard of the
famous saying – All is fair in love and war.

I then realized, “Why should I compromise on my

ethics just to succeed and be happy? What would it

10
 Achievement gives Pleasure but Fulfillment gives Joy and Peace

own Soul?” I took an exit from the rat race of life, the
highway of achievement when I realized that there is
no peak, no destination to reach. My greed was like a
bottomless well which would only make me sink
deeper and deeper in stress, anxiety and misery,
although these were sugar quoted with pleasure,
excitement and happiness.

I realized that people who live with contentment and

and inspiration, meaning and purpose. Not only are

they emotionally positive but they also use their
noteworthy success to make a difference and are
blessed with peace and tranquillity. Ultimately they
develop a universal connection which puts a smile on
their face and gives them sound sleep at night.

I realized that far more happiness than what success

and achievement give, comes from living a life of

belongs to us. Life is like a game of monopoly which

must be packed up at the end. I realized that the
richest man is not the happiest man – the happiest
man is the richest man!

If we want to live a life of peace and joy, we must take

an exit from the highway of achievement and start a

purpose and being content. This is the secret to true

joy, peace and bliss.

11
06 What is the Cause of Misery?

miserable. Everybody on earth experiences both

who has escaped misery.

I realized that misery essentially is of three types – of

the ego, the mind and the body. Each of these has its
own unique way of causing us suffering.

have all experienced physical pain. While the body

suffers pain, we must learn to overcome this pain and
not to suffer as the body. We live in the body, but we
are not the body.

The second and the most powerful cause of misery is

the mind. We become miserable because of our own
mind. It wonders and wanders and makes us miserable.
It swings like a pendulum and makes us regret the past,
and in a moment, it jumps to the future and makes us
worry and live with fear. I realized that fear is nothing
but False Expectations Appearing Real. But the mind
makes us fear and makes it appear that our illusory
fears are real dangers. Although we may know that our
mind is like a monkey that jumps from thought to
thought making us anxious and worried, we seem to be
helpless and we constantly and continuously suffer due
to our own mind.

The third cause of misery is our ego. We suffer because

of the “I” ness and the “My” ness. “When I told you to
do it, why did you not do it?” our ego screams as it

12
 What is the Cause of Misery?

makes us suffer due to its anger. Then the ego says,

“This is my property. You dare not step inside!” This
is letting greed cause misery. The ego continues to
dominate in ignorance and constantly makes us
miserable.

While some of us are fortunate enough to overcome

the misery caused by physical pain, very few of us are
able to transcend the ego and the mind, and thus we
continue to suffer. These two, in fact, the ego and the
mind, work together and create most of our misery.

I realized that suffering is not external. Rather our

own ego, mind, and body make us suffer. Our misery
is not so much dependent on what happens to us, but
rather more dependent on the way we react to what
happens to us.

Not only did I realize the causes of our suffering but I

was also fortunate to realize ways to eliminate
suffering. First came the realization, that we suffer
due to the pain of the body, misery of the mind, and
anxiety of the ego. The moment I realized neither was
I the body, the mind or the ego, I distanced myself
from all suffering, all misery. It seemed to disappear
like mist in the morning sun. Of course, the body may
experience pain, but that is not me. It is my body. My
mind may worry, and wander with negative
emotions. But I transcend the mind, just as I transcend
the ego and remain peaceful and blissful.

13
07 What is the Purpose of Life?

Life is the period between birth and death. We human

beings are born about nine months after we are
conceived and eventually, we die. We cannot directly

out what is the purpose of our life.

I realized that most of humanity doesn't seem to be

Thus, I feel that most of us just exist, we don't live.

and why we are here.

I was fortunate to go on a quest and to discover the

true meaning and purpose of life. Although I started

realized my life- purpose.

The problem with most of us is that we don't really

know who we are. Because of this ignorance, we
continue to live as the ego, mind and body and
experience both pleasure and pain, loss and gain. Our
life is like a merry-go-round. Once we realize who we
are, it will take us to the next step. It will lead us to
e are here on earth and what is the
purpose of our birth. Unfortunately, because of our

out the 'who' and 'why', which are the most important
questions of life.

st to realize who
I was. Was I Ravi Melwani? That was just my name.

14
 What is the Purpose of Life?

In fact, when I was born, I had no name. But we are

all so accustomed to calling ourselves by our name
that we think we are our name. Then I realized that
my body was constantly dying and being reborn as
every cell of my body was getting regenerated in
about every seven years. Essentially, this body is the
seventh body or the eighth that I inhabit. In essence, I
realized that I am the Divine Soul.

All these realizations of who I was and who I was not

that the ultimate goal of life was to be liberated and to

become one with the Divine. While this may seem
easy to one who does not understand the subject, it
took several more realizations to actually help me
transcend in my life journey and evolve so that I
could ultimately achieve the purpose of my life.

Most people think that their purpose is to be happy,

while some feel that it's not their own happiness that
is so important but that of making others happy
which truly matters. Sure it’s great to be happy and
it’s also very good to make others happy and there is
no doubt that most of humanity is seeking happiness,
but this is not the ultimate purpose of life. The
purpose of life is liberation. Some people call it
enlightenment while others may call it Nirvana or
Moksha
to realize who we truly are, and then, to ultimately be
liberated from all the suffering and unite with the
Divine. That is the purpose of life.

15
08 The Questions that
had no Answers
There are many questions in life that don't seem to have
answers. We know many things but compared to what
we don't know, we hardly know anything. We don't
know how the sun, the moon, the stars, the birds, the

theories and one popular theory is the Big Bang theory –

that everything was caused by one Big Bang. But then,
the question that arises is, "Who caused the Big Bang?"

I realized that there were many questions that were

not really relevant but there were some which were
very important as they affect our life. When I put
them together, I found that there were about 9
questions that didn't have any answers.

I realized that I was created when a sperm fertilized

an ovum. But I also realized that there was something
that caused the life inside me to arrive at birth.
Science has discovered many things about the zygote
and the embryo but till date, we don't know the secret
of our birth.

I also realized that science has not been able to

discover what happens after death. Doctors give up
hope when someone has a multiple organ failure and
we say that the person has departed or passed away
but we don't know where and how.

While we talk of heaven and hell, are these physical

domains where we can go to and even if they are, who
goes there? After all, the body disintegrates on earth.

16
 The Questions that had no Answers

This leads us to the next unanswered question – Who

is God? Where is God? What is God? Since God has

we have no clear answers as to who the Creator is and

we are confused.

What is the Soul? Has anyone seen it? Is your Soul

different from my Soul? Are there good and bad Souls?
Is rebirth real? What is reincarnation? Who is reborn? It
is said that there is a Law of Action and Reaction, the
Law of Karma that causes rebirth. But is it true?

All religions talk about the ultimate goal of life being

self-realization and God-realization. They give it
different names – Nirvana, enlightenment, salvation,
Mukti, Moksha or liberation. I put all these questions
together and realized that it was not just our goal but
it's our responsibility to discover our true life purpose

that have remained unanswered.

We all see a chicken and we all see an egg. But what

I did!

I realized that most of us feel that these are questions

with no answers. So why should we look for
answers? But actually, answers are available for all

the Ultimate Truth.

17
09 I am Not the Body

What do we do when we see a group photograph in

which we too are posing? We say, “That's me.” So

door and ask a simple question, “May I come in?” Of

course, we are part of a body-mind complex. But to
think that we are the physical body is ignorance.

I realized that humanity, by and large, believes that a

human being is a complex of body, mind, and Soul.
Although we are not very clear, we distinctly accept
that we are the body.

What made me realize that we are not the body? Think

about it. The body is constantly changing. When we are
born we are just a few kilograms in weight. Then we
grow and the body is nothing but pasta, pizza, rice,
noodles and burgers. The human body is said to have 37
trillion cells. These cells are constantly dying and are
being regenerated. Science agrees that once in about
every seven years, our entire body is new. This means
that if I am 50, I have already changed seven bodies and
this is my eighth edition.

How can I be the physical body that is constantly

changing? And then, one day when I become old, this
physical body will die and return to dust. When
somebody would ask my whereabouts, people will
say, "He passed away" or "He departed" and "He is no
more" although my dead body would be very much

death, then with what sense should I believe that I am

the body when I am alive?

18
 I am Not the Body

There is no doubt that I have a body just as there is no

doubt that I am not the body. This is part of the
journey called self-realization. A realization which
makes us Realize the Truth that we have a body but
we are not the body. Just like we have a house, a car,
and a shirt, but we are none of these, so also, we have
a body but we are not the body. We are not the body
that we wear, we are the ones who wear the body.

I once met a scientist who told me, “You seem to be

sitting in front of me.” Bewildered, I asked him what
he meant. He spoke to me about one of the latest
-Particle Duality. In
an experiment, science has shown that matter can
become energy and energy can become matter. Both
are interconvertible. Thus, said the scientist, “While
you seem to be in front of me, you are in fact trillions
of energy particles that together appear as the “you” I
see.”

This realization has made a profound difference in

my life and now I realize that I am not the body. Thus
when the body experiences pain, I don't suffer the
pain because I distance myself from the suffering.
This realization has liberated me from misery and led

19
10 Where is the Mind?
We cannot find!
Have you ever thought about it? You know where
your nose, your eyes, your mouth are, just as you are
sure of your hands and your legs. An X-ray or MRI
will show you your skeleton, the heart, the lungs, the
kidneys, and even the brain. But have you seen the
mind? Nobody has ever seen the mind. The mind is
said to be the subtle part of our body. In fact, we think
that it comprises the intellect and the memory, but
there are four aspects of our subtle body together
known as the inner instrument. They are the mind,
the intellect, the memory, and the ego.

I realized that there is

mind. It seems that we have a mind, we see it wonder
and wander while it jumps from one thought to the
other causing so much stress and worry. But upon
deep introspection, I realized that the mind is nothing
but a bundle of thoughts.

A wealthy businessman once approached his spiritual

mentor and told him that his mind was full of worry and
anxiety. He asked his spiritual master for a way to remove
all this poison from his mind. The spiritual master, a
learned sage promised his disciple that he would take all the
misery out of his mind if he came the next morning at 5.00
am. However, he added a condition, “Please come with
your mind.” The intelligent businessman was puzzled. He
thought his master had lost his mind. He consulted his
close friend on the situation and his friend advised him to
go and meet the spiritual master as the businessman was
experiencing sleepless nights because of the stress.

20
 Where is the Mind? We cannot Find

The next morning at 5.00 am, the businessman promptly

arrived and found that the master was deep in meditation.
The master opened his eyes and asked him, “Have you
brought your mind?” The businessman was furious. He
said, “What nonsense is this! How is it possible for me to
come here without my mind?” The master smiled and said,
“I am happy you realized that. Now please sit quietly in the

I will remove all the stress.” So saying, the master closed

his eyes and went back to meditation. The businessman had
no choice but to walk upstairs. He sat quietly to start
looking for his mind. After sitting for 2 hours, the

It was then that the master entered the room and saw his
frustration. He smiled and said reassuringly, “Don't be
”

activities of the mouth and the feet. So are thoughts

an activity of the brain. Collectively we think it to be
the mind. If you want to remove worry, stress, and
anxiety then control your thoughts. Slow down your
MTR, your Mental Thought Rate. We can produce
about 50,000 thoughts a day but we don't need to. We
must spend some time in silence, contemplating a
single thought. This will give us tranquillity. This
realization that we are not the mind, and that we do
not have to experience fear, worry, anxiety or any
other negative emotions created by the mind has
given me tremendous peace and with it, bliss and joy.

21
11 Who am I?

mind then comes the big question - Who am I? Of

course, I am. I know I exist. I can feel that I am alive. I
breathe, I walk and I talk. I know I am not you, just as
you are not me. While I know that I am, who am I?

I realized that if I am not the body that I seem to be,

that very Life Energy that makes the heart beat. I am

the very power that exists in each one of the trillions
of cells that are in my body. Some call this Life Energy
the Soul. Some call it the Spirit, some even call it the
Chi, the Prana or the Atman.

It really doesn't matter what we call it but I am the

Life Energy that keeps me alive. I am the Life Energy
that gives me breath. Without that there would be
death. The day this Life Energy comes into me I come
alive and the day it leaves me I live no more.

If I take out any of my body parts and virtually keep

them on the table, life in me will not get transferred to
the body parts. They will cease to exist. I am the life
that is inside me till I die. I realized that most human
beings don't know who we are although we think we
know - this is our ignorance.

A man of wisdom was once introduced to a person who said,

“I am John.” The wise person told John, “That is your name,
so, who are you?” He said, “I am an American.” “Well, that's
your nationality. I am asking you, who are you?” “I am the
son of Mrs. and Mr. Smith, father of Sarah and Rachael.” “I

22
 Who am I?

didn't ask you for your relationships. Who are you?” The
man was puzzled. He said, “I am a lawyer from New York.
I am a Christian. That's who I am.” “I didn't ask you for
your profession or your religion. Who are you?” The
question thundered. John was exasperated, “I don't know
who I am. Please tell me who I am,” he said.

I realized that most of us don't know who we truly are.

We think we are the body-mind-soul complex. But we
have not realized the Truth of who we are. We live and

Isn’t it actually very simple? Once we know who we

are not, we are not the body, we are not the mind, but
we surely exist, then who are we? If we contemplate
this truth, if we focus on investigating and asking
questions, we will ultimately realize that we are that
energy the world calls the Spirit or the Soul.

This was one of my biggest realizations - to discover

that I was that energy, that life. I was not the body that
will die. Neither was I ‘ME’, the Mind and the Ego.
While I was sure that I exist, it was only after going on a
quest that I discovered the Truth. This discovery is
called self-realization. I discovered that I was the Divine
Life Energy that created life in every cell of my body, an
energy that is also called the Soul, the Spirit or the
Atman. But this was not the end of my discovery. I
realized that this was a new beginning, a beginning that
would take me from realization to liberation.

23
12 We Live in Ignorance

When we are born, we don't seem to know anything.

But as we grow older, we are taught many things - be
it a language, or theology about God. We are guided
on basic ethics and discipline and it seems that we
grow up into adults knowing everything after being
schooled and university trained.

I realize that despite all the education and knowledge,

we are still ignorant. We hardly know anything. We
may have mastered science, technology, accounts,
ement
or money management but what use is it to know all
this if we don't know the basics of who we are and
why we are here? It seems like all of humanity is
enveloped in a dark blanket of ignorance. Our goal is,
therefore, enlightenment and to overcome the dark
ignorance by the realization of the Truth.

What is this ignorance all about? While it starts with

two basic questions, who are we and why are we here,
our ignorance goes on to make us realize that we don't
know anything about this universe. The earth is just like
a grain of sand on a beach of the cosmos. And we are
just like a speck of dust, one amongst 8 billion people.

Man thinks that he can do anything - that he can make

the impossible possible. But he cannot even create one
apple, one rose, or one strawberry. He is incapable of
creating a single human cell while he has trillions of
them. Man is ignorant about what happens before his
birth and after his death. He doesn't even know who the

24
 We Live in Ignorance

Creator of this universe is. Isn't this proof enough that

we are ignorant?

From birth to death, we seem to be enveloped in this

ignorance wherein we think that we know everything
but in reality, we know nothing. I realized that man is
so busy taking care of his bones and skin that he has
forgotten to discover the power within. We zoom
from our womb to our tomb without discovering the
true purpose of our life. We want to earn more
money, name, and fame because we believe that we
will be happy but we are miserable in the end.

I realized not just that we are ignorant, but that if we

overcome our ignorance, we will be liberated from all
misery and sorrow. It is this ignorance that makes us
suffer. Unfortunately, we are ignorant of our own
ignorance. And we blissfully live in ignorance till we
die.

second step is to overcome it by the realization of the

Truth. How does one realize the truth? It happens
when we go on a quest, we ask questions, we

overcome our ignorance. When we overcome our

ignorance, we will be blessed with everlasting peace
and joy. This is our ultimate goal – to realize the
Truth by overcoming the ignorance before we die.

25
13 I will Never Die

If somebody asks you, “Will you die?”, it is natural

for you to answer, “Yes, eventually, one day I will
die.” But if you realize the Truth, you will never, ever
say that you will die.

I realized that after I was born, my parents called me

Ravi and my surname was Melwani. All my school
records and my ID cards are in this name. But this is
just my name. This is not me. This is my identity but
not my reality. I am the Life Energy or Soul that is
alive inside Ravi Melwani.

While Ravi Melwani has to die, just as every human

being in this world is mortal, I will never die. I am the
eternal, immortal Life Energy that arrives at birth and
departs at death. I got this profound realization after I
realized who I truly was. Once we realize that we are
in reality the Life Energy within and not the body-
mind complex, we will also get this realization that
we are immortal. We are embodied Souls and the
body will die but we, the Soul within, never die.

What happens to the Soul after death? The Soul is not

restricted by the body-mind. It is like electricity that
makes the bulb glow. When one bulb breaks, it doesn't
affect the Power. The Power gives energy to another
bulb to glo
the real me, the Atman, the Soul, the Life Energy.

Unfortunately, the whole world believes that we are

mortal. We are born and we will die. Our ignorance
doesn't end here. People pray for their forefathers and

26
 I will Never Die

dead ones. They are ignorant of the reality that the

body is nothing. The real identity of the ones that die
is the energy or the Soul that is eternal. Because we
live in ignorance, believing the myth, we are
completely confused and shattered at death. We
mourn the passing away of our near and dear ones
not realizing that the ones who died have only moved
on to manifest in another body.

When I realized that I will never die, the realization gave

me a lot of power and energy. It made me fearless of death
as I realized who I was. I went on further to realize my
ultimate goal. At death, if I realize that I am the Atman, the
Divine Soul, then I will be liberated to be united with the
Lord. But if I continue to live in ignorance, then when I die
as an embodied Soul, as an ego-mind complex I will have
to be reborn to face my Karmas, to redeem the actions of
my previous birth. However, at death, if I realize the Truth
that I am not the body-mind but the Life Energy, then I
will be liberated and if the Divine grace is upon me I will
become one with the Cosmic Consciousness, the Universal
Soul.

Whatever be our future, our present goal is to realize

that I will never die. Only the body dies, not the
Divine Life Energy, the Soul or the Atman that is
within. Once we realize this Divine truth that we will
never die, we will be liberated from all misery and
sorrow, from all fear, worry and anxiety and we will
live a life of bliss and joy.

27
14 Who controls this Universe?

Do we even realize that we who live on planet earth

are not even a speck of a speck? We are a speck of the
city we live in. The city is a speck in our country. Our
country is a speck on the earth, the earth, a speck in

part of the universe, do not realize that somebody is

happens to you and me, just as what happens in the

universe, doesn't happen by chance. It is all a part of
the universal design created by the Creator.

I realized that we, human beings are so blind that we

cannot see the power of creation. There is a very
powerful Creator of this universe. Just because a blind
person cannot see you and me, he cannot consider it
true that you and I do not exist. We, human beings need
to stop, introspect and contemplate the amazing power
of the Creator of the universe.

I realized that the Creator doesn't micromanage every

action, every act that we perform on earth. The
Creator has created several universal laws by which
this universe is managed. For instance, let us take the
Law of Gravity. It is a universal law, a principle by
which everything is grounded on earth. If not for this

does on the moon. Just because there is no proof of

the Law of Gravity, doesn't mean that there is no law.
We know of this law by inference. When we throw

We infer that it is pulled back to earth by gravity.

28
 Who controls this Universe?

Just like the Law of Gravity, there are several universal

laws that control the universe. The Law of Opposites
makes sure that everything has an opposite. For
instance, there is pleasure and pain, day and night, male
and female. Thus, this Law balances the universe.

Another universal law is the Law of Action and

Reaction or the Law of Karma. It states that what you
give is what you get. What you sow, so shall you
reap. So, if you plant mangoes you can't reap
pineapples. There are many such universal laws that
together give continuity to life in this universe.
However, I realized that man is incapable of realizing
anything more about God. God is beyond human
comprehension. If I ask you to see me with your
tongue, you would say it is impossible to see with the
tongue. You need the eyes to see. Only the eyes are
capable of sight. We human beings are incapable of
knowing more about the Creator.

I realized that we know only this much but this much

is enough for us to live a life of meaning and purpose.
It is enough for us to bow down and acknowledge the
existence of a Power, a Creator, who for want of a
better name, we call God. This realization about the
Creator has transformed my life! It has made me live
in union with the Divine with joy, peace, and bliss. I
experience the Divine in everything that is around me
because I know that the Power exists.

29
15 Who is God? Where is God?
What is God?
Does God exist? About ninety percent of humanity
prays to God. Although there are dozens of religions,
most people believe in one God as per their religion.
Since childhood, they grow up learning that their God
is the only God and all other Gods are not real. It is
most unfortunate that all religions believe that their
God is the God of the universe. There are a few
people who are atheists and don't believe in God and
there are a few who are agnostics and not sure about
the existence of God. I realized that we do not know
who God is, where God is or what God is.

What did I realize? I realized that religion is the

kindergarten to spirituality and that all religions do a
great job in helping us build a relationship with our
personal God. But thereafter, religions don't help us
to realize the Truth about God. Today, most
intelligent people believe that there is one God. And
though we give different names and believe in our
personal God who has different shapes and forms, in
essence, there is only one God.

When I went on a quest to realize the Truth, I realized

that all religions are very good to a certain point, but
then all religions are also responsible for our spiritual
ignorance. In fact, in a way, they stop us from
realizing God. God is omnipotent - all-powerful,
omnipresent - present everywhere, and omniscient -
knows everything

God is not a person, God is not a saint. God is not a

picture that anyone can paint. God is a power – eternal,

30
 Who is God? Where is God? What is God?

immortal and beyond human comprehension.

After my quest and realization of who I truly was, I

realized that we are nothing but manifestations of the
Divine. Each one of us is a God particle appearing as
a human being. God is the cause. We are the effects.
Without God we are nothing.

It is most unfortunate but I realized that we, human

God. God

universe. He manifests as everything on earth.

He is the producer-director of this show called life

that is projected on a giant theatre called earth. We
are just actors, we come and we go. Whatever
happens, is part of His show. He controls life and
death. He gives us birth. He is the Creator of the
universe and the earth. God is beyond religion. God is
one power. God doesn't dwell in distant planets or in
heaven or hell, or somewhere deep within the ground
or far up in the skies.

God exists in each human being. God is the very life

that gives us birth. God is that energy, which when it
leaves, causes death and there is no breath. But we are
blind, we don't realize the Truth of who God is, where
God is, and what God is.

31
16 Life on Earth is a
Cosmic Drama
We take life too seriously, don't we? We think
everything is real - our possessions, our relationships.
But what we don't realize is that nothing is real.
Everything is like a movie, a theatre, a drama.

I realized that this earth is like a big stage, and we, the
8 billion people are like actors who come on the earth
stage, perform our role and go. It's all just a show,
produced and directed by the Creator. Unfortunately,
just like some people take a movie to be real and they
cry considering the tragedy on the screen to be real,
we too cry thinking that the movie called life is real.

What did I realize? We all come without anything and

we go without anything. This is a fact nobody can deny.
In the end, whether we are millionaires or beggars,
nothing will belong to us. Although we know it, we get
attached to our fortunes and friends. We live with the
constant fear of death and losing what is ours, just as the
fear of the unknown beyond worries us.

Can we control the drama that is being enacted on the

stage? Of course not. We are just observers watching the
show. The drama will unfold as per the producer-
director. In our drama, the only difference is, we are not
just observers but also actors. Unfortunately, we get
offended by everything that happens although we can
do nothing about it. The story has been written by the
Creator of the show. We must come, do our part and go.
Whether we enjoy the show or not, is up to us. We have
a role and we can't change that. Who we are, our names,
our parents, our date of birth are things we cannot

32
 Life on Earth is a Cosmic Drama

change. But we can choose our goal. Whether we are

happy or sad, whether we cry or we are glad – all
depends upon how we observe the show.

Some people complain about the weather while

others enjoy it. Can we stop it from raining? No, but
we can wear a raincoat. We can choose our actions
and reactions in the show called life but we can't stop
the show from unfolding.

I realized that most people don't discover this Truth

that life is just a show and so they are miserable about
everything that happens in life. However, there are a
few who realize this Truth. They know that nothing is
real. It's a cosmic drama. We are just actors, we come
and we go. There will be laughter, there will be tears.
Such is the cosmic show. Whatever will be, will be.
We must accept it joyously.

What do you think? Isn't life like a drama? Then why do

we take it so seriously? Isn't life like a dream? As long as
we are dreaming, it looks so real but when we wake up,
we realize it was just a dream. The only difference is we
realize that life is a drama at death. So wake up now!

Those who realize that life on earth is nothing more

than a Cosmic Drama, enjoy each moment of life as it
unfolds. They realize that after all, nothing really
matters - it’s not real, it’s just a Cosmic Drama. So,
why worry, why fear? Why not just enjoy the show?

33
17 The Universal Law of Karma

What is Karma? It is a universal law – a law that states

what you give is what you get. It is a Law of Action
and Reaction. It is a law of the boomerang. As you
sow, so shall you reap. Most of the world is aware of
this law and accepts its governance on earth.

I realized that nobody can escape from this law except a

very few who transcend it by the realization of the
Truth. Whatever be your country, your religion, your

escape the law. How does it work? Every action of ours

is recorded whether it is good or bad and the Law of
Karma makes no mistake. It returns to us our good
deeds as fortune or luck, just as it returns our bad deeds
as our ill fortune. In reality, there is no good luck or bad
luck. Our destiny is the result of our karma.

When something goes wrong in our lives and we can't

explain it, Karma can. We must have committed some
sin in the past. It may be in the distant past and we have
forgotten it; it could even be in our previous life. But
Karma doesn't forget. It records everything. Even after
we die, our Karma remains in our account. The body
dies but the ME - Mind and Ego – doesn't die. As per the
Law of Karma, we are reborn to redeem our sins or to
enjoy the rewards of our good deeds. That is the reason
to explain why some people are born “lucky” in the
family of the rich and famous and some without any
fortune. Some believers of Karma even believe that we
can be born as a dog, or a pig in the next birth to suffer
for our past deeds. When something bad happens in our
life, we must rejoice rather than cry because our bad

34
 The Universal Law of Karma

Karma is being negated. It is a reason to celebrate.

However, nobody knows exactly how this law works,
but the universal Law of Karma exists.

I realized that Karma has three accounts – one is a

corpus, a warehouse of Karma that continues birth
after birth. The second is an opening balance that we
start with, in every new life. The third is the current
account which carries all the good and bad deeds we
do in this life. All three accounts are connected and
they decide our destiny. However, we have a free will
and we can choose our actions. These actions create
fresh Karma which will be added to our Karma and
determine our future.

I realized that very few people know that we can

transcend Karma; we can escape from the law.
However, this is only possible if we transcend the ego
and the mind and we realize that we are not the body.
When we realize we are just an instrument of the
Divine and we surrender our actions without being
the doer, then the actions are not ours and so the
Karma doesn't belong to us. A tiny minority are
fortunate to realize this Truth. They are also the ones
to escape from the constant cycle of death and rebirth.
This is liberation and leads to the ultimate goal of life
called Salvation, Moksha or Nirvana. The one who
wants to escape from Karma must give up his “I” - his

35
18 The Mysterious 4th Factor

Man thinks that he can make the impossible possible.

What is it that he cannot do? But when man does his
best and things don't happen as expected, man looks
up at the sky and cries ," Why? Why did it not
happen?" He thinks that there are three factors that
control the result of every action. The result depends
on him, his equipment and tools, and his efforts. All
results depend on these three factors. But
unfortunately, man is mistaken.

I realized that there is a mysterious 4th Factor. A factor

that controls the results of all our actions. However,
very few of us realize this and acknowledge or accept
the power of the 4th Factor.

What is this mysterious 4th Factor and how does it

control the results of our actions? Normally, every
doer of action knows that if he wants to improve the

his equipment, and resources. He can also improve

his skill and his art of execution. However, despite
using the best men and material and the best of
efforts, there are times when the result is not as
desired or expected. The mysterious 4th Factor, lesser
known to man, controls all results of our actions.

There may be many farmers who live together in a

village. They use the same seeds, manure, farming
material, and even their lands are adjacent. However,
they do not reap the same produce. What causes some
farmers to be rich and some poor although they put in
equal efforts? There may be a potter or a painter who

36
 th
The Mysterious 4 Factor

may seem to be a lucky man as he beats the competition

and achieves mysteriously unaccountable success
despite his ordinary performance. Somehow, man has
not realized the existence of this 4th Factor. I know of
couples who try to conceive but they are not blessed
with a child. Despite going to fertility experts and taking
all the medication and therapy, they fail but there are
others who succeed.

It's time to realize that there is a 4th Factor that is in

charge of results. I realized that we can do our best
but we must hand over the rest to the 4th Factor and
trust its judgment.

What happens when we don't accept the 4th Factor? We

become attached to the result. The expectation of a
particular result creates a desire and when this desire is
not met, we become disappointed and miserable. We
must develop the art of acceptance and learn to
surrender to this mysterious 4th Factor. Several times in
life, I realized that things did not happen the way they
should have. But realizing the prevalence of this Divine
factor, I did not get angry or frustrated. I just let go and
let things happen without losing my inspiration,
keeping my hard work and enthusiasm at its peak.

Just as many universal laws exist, I realized the

presence of the 4th Factor and learnt to live with it. I
would do my best, but hand over the rest to the 4th
Factor. After all, I cannot control the result of my
action. I realized that the 4th Factor is in charge.

37
19 There is a way to
Suffer No More!
We all suffer, don't we? Be it the pain of the body,
misery of the mind, or the agony that we feel when our
ego is hurt. We see people suffering and we feel sad. But
do we know that there is a way to overcome suffering?

I realized that we suffer due to ignorance because we

believe that we are the body that suffers, and we
experience physical pain. Because we believe that we
are the mind that worries, we experience fear, worry,
and anxiety and become miserable. However, there is
a way to suffer no more if we realize that we are not
the body that suffers. We have a body, but we are the
ones who are alive inside the body. This realization
will distance us from the physical body and we will

and other therapies but we will not suffer. Today,

even very serious conditions like cancer are treated
with opioids like morphine which overcome very
high levels of physical pain. There are times when
local anesthesia is used to overcome pain in parts of
the body. Thus, in today's world, it is no more a secret
as to how one can overcome physical pain.

However, the bigger challenge is how to transcend the

suffering of the mind. The mind is constantly worrying
and is anxious about the future. We suffer as the mind
fears about tomorrow and regrets about yesterday. In
fact, the mind is like a monkey that is constantly
swinging from the miseries of the past to the fears of the
future. How do we overcome this mental misery?

When we realize that we may have a mind, but we are

not the mind, then we become observers of the mind.
38
 There is a way to Suffer No More!

We observe the rascal jumping like a monkey but we

don't become miserable with it. When we learn the art
of living as the observer, we learn not to suffer
although the mind seems to suffer.

This realization helped me overcome all misery, both

misery of the body and of the mind as I discovered
the magical secret of how to suffer no more. Those

is possible, but if we realize that we are the ones who

live in this body-mind-ego complex, neither are we
the body-mind, nor the ego, then we transcend all
suffering. Of course, we too will experience the
messengers of misery knocking at our door.
Messengers like fear, worry, doubt, regret, anger,
hate, revenge, and jealousy. These come and knock at
our door but when we realize the Truth, we can bid
them farewell without letting them in. When we
realize the Truth about life that we are not the body,
nor are we the mind, but the Divine Energy then there
is no place for these messengers of misery to enter our
life. We don't swing to a past that is gone and to a
future that is not born. We live in the present
moment, peaceful and joyous, transcending the body
and mind and by doing so, we overcome all suffering.

I realized that there is no need to suffer. If we discover

the truth of who we are, we can transcend all suffering
and learn to live peacefully and blissfully. We only
suffer because of our ignorance. With the realization of
the Truth, we will be liberated from all suffering.

39
20 We all need a Life Coach

If we take a look at the world champions, what is the

underlying factor that made them winners? Of
course, each of them had their own unique gift, their

a mentor or a guide that led them to success. At times,

the inspiration might have come from a parent, a
sibling or even a friend. But there is no doubt that it
was an expert coach, a gifted professional who helped
them achieve the feat.

I realized that to discover the secret of life and to

evolve on the journey of self-realization, one needs a
spiritual master or a Guru. Without a Guru who takes
us from ‘Gu’, darkness to ‘Ru’, light, who helps us
overcome our ignorance, we will never acquire the
wisdom to realize the Truth in life.

I had the blessing of my Guru, my spiritual master,

Dada J.P. Vaswani. He was my spiritual companion and
coach for twenty-
was so magical that he taught me to decode all the
spiritual mysteries of life. I must have asked him
thousands of questions but he never got tired. He led

helped me transcend from the kindergarten of religion

to a Masters in Spirituality. He held my hand as he not
only taught me and coached me but also loved me and
encouraged me day after day, with all the support I
needed to arrive at my spiritual realization. I realized
that if we want to evolve in our life journey, we need a
spiritual master or a Guru who has himself been taught
by a spiritually awakened master. The master must not

40
 We all need a Life Coach

is beyond money and material demands. A truly

realized master seeks nothing except to help his
disciple realize the
such a spiritual master in his life. I am so grateful to
the Divine that I met and lived with my spiritual
master for two and a half decades.

spiritual mentor who can help us answer questions

and lead us to the Truth. Otherwise, we will be slaves
of the body and the mind and we will crave till our
grave. It is only with the grace and the guidance of a
Guru that one can walk the arduous path of
realization and then achieve the ultimate goal.

mentor because then we are coached and taught and

taken in the opposite direction of the goal, which can be
very dangerous. The Guru leads us to self-realization
and ultimately to liberation. This is the goal of human
life. The Guru is always present with us although he
may be physically apart. Although my mentor, my God
on earth, my Guru, Dada, departed from the earthly
plane after traversing it for a hundred years, he
continues to live in the temple of my heart, being a part
of every breath, every thought of my life.

A true Guru enjoys a very intimate relationship with

us, beyond that of a family or a friend and I realized
that this was the biggest gift one could get in life.

41
21 Nobody really goes to
Heaven or Hell
Many of us believe that after this life is over, we will
go to some kind of heaven or hell. There will be a Day
of Judgement when we will be rewarded for our good
deeds, just as we will be punished for our sins. With
all due respect to religions that advocate this belief, I
went into deep introspection and contemplation of
this belief to realize the logic behind this.

What did I realize? At death, our body will either be

cremated or buried. In both cases, it returns to dust. The
Soul that was alive has left the body. On cremation, the
body has become ashes and even after the burial, the
body remains under the soil and disintegrates. Then
who is it that goes to heaven or hell? Further, where is
heaven or hell and how does one travel there?

After a lot of thought, I realized that nobody really goes

to heaven or hell. We suffer hell or rejoice heaven right
here on earth. There are various possibilities. One
possibility is the theory of rebirth. Most religions believe
in the Law of Karma or in the Truth - as you sow, so
shall you reap. After the body is dead, who will reap
what the body has done – whether good or bad? For
those who believe in rebirth, the ME – mind and ego are
reborn in a new body and the ME returns to earth to
redeem good deeds and sins in a new life. If one doesn't
believe in rebirth, then the questions that remain
unanswered -where is this so-called heaven or hell? Has
anybody been there? Has anybody seen it? How does a
dead person travel to this destination and without a
body, how do the dead get punished or rewarded? Food
for thought. There are many who

42
 Nobody really goes to Heaven or Hell

follow a religious belief but there are some who stop

and ask questions till they realize the Truth. I myself
did not accept any religious dogma for that matter. I
just believe in the laws of spirituality. No doubt we
cannot escape from our sins, just as our good actions
are not wasted but we must be practical and sensible
in our approach to realize that just like the far-fetched
tale of Santa Claus is a myth, Heaven and Hell are not
physical destinations. We must follow our religion,
for that helps us to grow closer to God and love God,
but we must grow and go beyond religion to realize
the Spiritual Truth of life.

All religions are good and we don't need to change

our religion, we just need to question some aspects.
The goal of religion is God-realization and religions
have good teachings but we must not take all
teachings literally. Instead, we must understand the
intended meaning in word and spirit.

I realized that we experience heaven and hell as we

live on earth. We suffer hell and we enjoy the bliss of
heaven, moment by moment, as we live. We don't

must wake up and realize the Truth. Those who

realize the Truth will achieve the ultimate goal of
God-realization and rejoice with peace and bliss.

43
22 We are the Life Energy within

Those on a quest to realize the Truth, wonder, “If we are

not the body, if we are not the mind, then who are we?”
We exist and we are alive. While we are alive, most of
us can't answer this simple question - Who am I?

I realized that I am not the body. The body is made up of

existence. It starts as a simple zygote and grows into an

to become an adult, ag
a habitat of the Life Energy that we truly are. Some people
call this Life Energy the Soul. Some call it the Spirit or
Atman. It is also known as Chi or Prana.

As I realized that we are not the body, I went on a quest

we are not the mind. Of course, as we know we have a

body, we also feel we have a mind. The body is our
gross existence but the mind seems to be a subtle aspect
which we cannot touch. However, we can observe the
mind as it jumps from thought to thought. We
sometimes say my mind is worrying or my mind is
anxious. This, by itself, endorses the fact that we are not
the mind but we have a mind. Just as we say, this is my
hand, this is my leg or my head is aching. All these
aspects are a part of our life but who are we in reality? It
was not an easy task but after going on a quest for the
Truth, retreating in silence into the mountains, I realized
that we are the Life Energy that gives us breath without
which we would be dead. Most people don't have the
time, the patience or the passion to realize who we truly
are. Thus, most of humanity lives and dies in

44
 We are the Life Energy within

ignorance. Ignorance about the fact that we are, in

essence, Life Energy that powers the body.

Have you ever thought about it? Our car needs fuel.
Our mobile phone needs a battery. Our hair dryer needs
a power cord. What powers our body to live? What
gives energy to our heart to beat, to our lungs to
breathe, to our kidneys to cleanse? What is that power
that makes our eyes see, our nose smell, our ears listen,
our tongue taste, and our skin touch and feel? At death,
in a moment, when the Life Energy within leaves,
the
body remains as it is, except that it is lifeless. The Life
Energy within the Power, left causing death.

I realized that we are that Power. The Power that

arrives at birth and departs at death. The Power that
makes each of the 37 trillion cells alive. What a
tremendous, magical Power this is! Sad, but most of
us don't realize that we are that, the Divine Power,
not this body, not this mind that we seem to be.

When we sleep, we become unconscious. But when

we wake up, the Life Energy powers the mind to
dream, but once we die we do not wake up again. In
fact, we never die. Only our body dies. We, the Life
Energy, just departs at death.

We are that Life Energy, the soul or the spirit. This is

the biggest realization that we must realize before our
journey of life is over.

45
23 Time is not moving, it is still.
We are moving
we realize it, the year is over. But the question is this,
is time really moving? A car is moving, a train is
moving and we are moving – we can see it. But has
anyone seen time moving?

I realized that the clock ticks second by second but time

doesn't move. We move through time. In fact, what is
time? It is a measure of what is between this moment
and the next. Somehow, we have gotten used to
thinking that a day has passed or a year has passed. No
doubt that when the earth rotates on its own axis once
in 24 hours, we call it a day and when the earth
completes a revolution, we call it a year. But if you think
about it, life is passing – not time. Time is just a measure
between today and tomorrow, between last year and
this year. It is a unit of measurement, just like weight is
used as a measure. Time is nothing beyond that. It is up
to us to use time effectively and to live meaningfully.
What does this mean?

I realized that we, human beings don't enjoy the

moment. Every moment is an opportunity to live, to
smile, to be happy. But how many people actually do
this? We seem to be rushing through the day. Most of
us are spending this moment regretting the past or
worrying about the future. Therefore, we are losing
valuable moments. What we don't realize is that
moments create minutes that create hours. Hours
create days that create weeks, months and years!

Finally, this is our life. What we don't realize is when we

46
 Time is not moving, it is still. We are moving

lose moments, we are ultimately losing life itself.

realize that time is not zooming. It is like a highway

and we are driving on this highway called time. Our
drive is our life. We are living through time - passing
moments, days, months and years – till ultimately we
reach the end of the road. Time doesn't get over. It is
endless. Our life gets over.

I realized that we must live our life with peace, bliss,

and joy. We must go on a quest to realize who we are
and why we are here. Most importantly, we must
make the best use of every moment as the clock ticks
second by second, being conscious of our blessings,
being grateful for this beautiful life, by living as the
Divine Life Energy and by transcending the suffering
of the body and the mind.

Most people rush through life. For them, it seems that

time is just zooming by. But there are a few who
realize the Truth about life. They spend time in
silence, being conscious of the present moment and
by enjoying the experience called life. They don't just
exist. They live moment by moment, making the best
of their life as it passes through time, day after day,
month after month, year

If we really want to make the best of our life, we must

be conscious of our life moment by moment, not
worrying about time but rather focusing on our life
every moment that we live.

47
24 Knowledge is not Realization

What is the difference between knowledge and

realization? Seekers on the journey of life, in quest of

is to acquire knowledge, to know the Truth. However,

knowing the Truth is not enough. One needs to go
beyond.

I realized this when I went to my Guru, my spiritual

master and told him I experience God in the sunset, in

God is everywhere. Being spiritually evolved and a

realized Soul himself, he smiled and told me, “You have
the knowledge of the Truth, now you must realize it.”

It was a few years later that I truly understood what

he meant. We may know of something, but unless we
open our ‘real eyes’, we will never realize the Truth.

knowledge is an assimilation of information – to read,

to listen and to know. Then, we pass that information
through our intellect. We introspect, we contemplate.
We try to ratify that knowledge as being the Truth.
We use our power of discrimination to eliminate the
illusions and the myth. Now we are sure this is the
Truth. However, it is still knowledge. When that
knowledge becomes realization, we not only know it
and understand it, but we make it real in our life. It
becomes an intuitive part of our belief system. We
don't have to convince ourselves of it anymore. Once
we realize the Truth, it becomes a part of our life.

Many people know that we are not the body, not the

48
 Knowledge is not Realization

mind. But they have not realized the Truth. What

does it mean? Although they seem to know the Truth
in theory, they have not made it a part of their life.
This means they have the knowledge of realization
but they have not realized the Truth. There is a big
difference between the two. There are times when
somebody realizes the Truth before acquiring

them. Then the realization acquires the knowledge to

is is rare. And it only happens to
those spiritually blessed.

Seekers on the path of self-realization must pass

through 4 doors: discrimination, detachment,
discipline, and desire for liberation. Then, they must
try to remain in a state of Divine union. They must
not lose connection with the Divine – be it through
action, devotion, education or meditation. These are
the prerequisites for realization.

I realized in my quest that knowledge is just a

milestone on a highway that leads to realization. Yes,
it is good to get the knowledge but we must not stop
at that. We must realize the Truth and let the
Realization run in our blood and live in every cell of
our body. This is true realization – the realization that
will ultimately lead us to liberation.

Let us not be like those self-proclaimed intelligent

geniuses who pride themselves in knowing
everything, but in reality, have realized nothing.

49
25 Our ultimate Goal is Liberation

Most people think that the goal of life is to be happy. Of

course, it is. Who doesn't want to be happy? The whole

happiness, but they haven't realized the Truth.

I realized that we start our life thinking that success is

happiness and so we chase achievement. But there is
no
happiness, it is temporary and transitory. A few
people are lucky, maybe about 20 percent of the
human race evolve and get out of that rat race. They

However, I realized that both achievement and

Thus our ultimate goal of life is liberation. What is

Liberation all about? It starts with the realization of the
Truth – realization that we are not the body and not the
mind. We are the Divine Life Energy that gives us the
power to live. This is our ultimate goal of life.

What happens if we do not experience self-realization

and Liberation? In such a case, we live like prisoners
in this body-mind complex and suffer pain of the
body and misery of the mind. Unless we achieve the
ultimate goal of Liberation, we cannot escape from
misery and sorrow.

Religions around the world and spiritual masters talk

about Liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Even the awakened one, Buddha, advocated this. But
whether or not we subscribe to an afterlife, we all want

50
 Our ultimate Goal is Liberation

liberation from misery and sorrow today. Therefore,

this should be our ultimate goal. Otherwise, we will
enjoy pleasure from achievement or the joy from

eternal peace that we attain as we discover our true

purpose and realize the Truth about life. This is the
third and ultimate peak of happiness, a Truth that
transcends misery and pain.

Amongst all my realizations in life, I found this to be

the turning point – to realize what the ultimate goal of
life is. Most of us just exist till we die and we don't

on earth? When we go on a quest, we realize the

Truth. When we realize the Truth, we are liberated
from all kinds of misery and sorrow. Our life is full of
peace and bliss and we live moment by moment with
the realization of the Truth. No illusion, no myth can
trouble the one who is realized. A Realized Soul is
enlightened and free from the petty annoyances that
other human beings face. Such a Soul lives fearlessly
without stress, worry anxiety or anger. Such a Soul
lives with steady intellect, controlling the
troublesome mind from stressful thoughts.

All religions advocate this as the ultimate goal of life.

Some call it Enlightenment, some Salvation just as
others call it Nirvana, Mukti or Moksha. I realized that
they are all one and the same, different names for
Liberation, our ultimate goal.

51
26 The Intellect is not the Mind
On the journey of self-realization, there are some

these interfere in our realization and liberation. Most

people think that the mind also comprises the
memory and the intellect. However, spiritual sages
have warned us not to confuse the two –
the mind and the intellect.
In my quest, I realized that the mind is a thought
factory. In fact, it is our enemy because it constantly
produces thoughts creating anxiety, stress, worry, and
fear and stops us from realizing the Truth. How can we
control this monkey mind and make it into a silent
monk? How can we reduce the MTR, the Mental
Thought Rate so that we can achieve our goal of
realization? We need the help of the intellect. We human
beings are blessed with the intellect. Although like the
mind, it is another part of our subtle body, it is distinctly
different from the mind. The purpose of the intellect is
to discriminate thoughts, differentiating between the
right and wrong thoughts, execute the right ones and
reject the wrong ones. However, when the mind is at its
peak, producing about 50,000 thoughts a day, the
intellect is unable to cope. We must use our willpower
to discipline the mind by methods like silence and
meditation, thereby slowing down the production of

thought and doesn't let the mind push the thought

ahead into execution. In a way, the intellect becomes the
governor of the mind. Surely, it is not a part of the mind
and distinctly different from it.

In my quest for self-realization, I found the intellect to

52
 The Intellect is not the Mind

be a very important aid as it helped me to

discriminate the Truth from the Myth. Not only did it
control the mind, but through the mind, it also

Unfortunately, those who think that the mind and the

intellect are no different but are one entity, lose the
power of discrimination.

If we want to realize the Truth and live our lives with

meaning and purpose we must isolate our intellect

the intellect. If a thought is inappropriate, the intellect

will block the thought from going forward. Thus, the
intellect becomes a very important tool for self-
realization.

It is said that our subtle body, also known as the inner

instrument is made up of the Mind, the Memory, the
Intellect and the Ego. The Mind is a thought factory
that just produces thoughts. The Memory helps to
register and recall everything that happens in our life.
The Intellect is that aspect of our invisible body that
discriminates between the right thoughts and the

know what the ego is. It constantly makes us think

that we are a body-mind complex. All these are
together referred to as our inner instrument.

I realized that our Mind is our enemy. It makes us

believe that the Intellect is part of the Mind, thus
defeating the very weapon that is meant to destroy
the Mind. It was the realization of my powerful
Intellect that made me realize the truth about life.
53
27 Detachment and Dispassion
reduce Anxiety
Have you ever heard of the term renunciation? Those
on a journey of self-realization lead a life of
detachment and dispassion because they realize that
this is the way to overcome suffering.

In my journey, I realized that if we are attached to

people and possessions, and passionate about the
results of our expectations we tend to become anxious,
and very often miserable. Attachment causes misery
because of the ignorance that we live with. The ones
who realize the Truth know that nothing is permanent
and being attached is a sure way to break our heart.
Thus, I too decided to live a life of dispassion and
detachment. What happens when we live so? We
overcome the misery caused by attachment.

A lady was very fond of her pet dog and suddenly one day
it died. She was so attached to her pet that she could not
overcome the loss. She created so much misery for herself.
Her attachment did not allow her to get another pet because
she was afraid that she would become miserable again if she
lost the other pet too.

However, if we overcome this attachment and live with

detachment and transcend our passion, then this will
make our life far more peaceful and blissful. I realized
that it is foolish to live a life of attachment and passion.

I personally experienced a life of passion and while

passion is positive in the pursuit of success, it hinders
our spiritual growth and affects our peace and joy. In
our journey of success and achievement, we achieve so

54
 Detachment and Dispassion reduce Anxiety

many things but then we become attached to our

money, our success, our name, and fame. We even get
attached to our relationships.

From my personal experience, attachment is sure to

make us miserable because nothing is permanent.
Sooner or later, we will lose our wealth. One day even
our relationships will come to an end. I renounced my
old ways and found my life to be far more blissful
and peaceful. I lived a life of surrender and
acceptance. I never reduced my motivation and
inspiration, but I made sure not to be attached and
hurt myself. I realized that it is important to live with
dispassion and detachment for a spiritual aspirant.
Not only do these give us peace and joy, living with
passion and attachment act as fetters and hinder our
spiritual growth.

If one wants to live a life of peace and joy, and

ultimately achieve our life goal, one should resolve to
live with detachment and dispassion. If we don’t
renounce our attachments and our passions, we are
sure to live a life of stress, worry and anxiety.

What is real detachment? Real detachment allows you

to live with people and possessions, and it appears
like you are leading an absolutely normal life, but
within, you are not attached. Within, you are
detached. The loss of a person or a thing never
destabilizes your peace and your bliss.

55
28 Discipline is the key to Realization
People do many things in the aspiration for self-
realization but many are unable to even reach the tip
of realization. The spiritual sages have warned that
this is because of our own mind, our body.

I realized that the discipline of body and control of mind

are key to realizing the Truth. So, what actually happens

something, we hear something, we smell, we touch and

we taste something. Immediately, the senses trigger the
mind creating thoughts and desires. If we don't tame the
senses of the body, it becomes impossible to
contemplate the Truth. That is why a genuine seeker
often renounces many things as a way to discipline the
senses. Of course, it is not possible to shut off all the
senses all the time. But if we don't, then we start craving
and we become prisoners of our own desires.

Any kind of craving for material things distances us

from spiritual realization. Those who keep their life
simple, fu
spiritual destination. Craving is not just of the body, but
also the mind. We must discipline the mind. Otherwise,
it will wonder and wander producing distracting
thoughts, becoming the main enemy of our realization.

The mind is like a monkey. It jumps from thought to

thought. It doesn't like to remain still. It doesn't let us
contemplate. One moment, it takes us to a past memory

fear of the future, disturbing our concentration. We have

to stop this monkey business of the mind and cut

56
 Discipline is the key to Realization

its tail that causes it to jump. We must convert the

monkey into a monk. Unless the mind is silent, still as
a lake without ripples, we will not be able to
concentrate on the Truth.

I realized that the journey of realization and liberation

cannot be successful without strict discipline. Of
course, this discipline is one of the keys but seekers
must realize that without it, one cannot go close to
liberation.

The discipline of body, control of the mind along with

the elimination of cravings is one part. What does a
seeker do when attacked by the body and mind? The
seeker withdraws like a tortoise that pulls back its
head within its shell when the enemy is near. To help
complete the process, the seeker lives with faith,
forbearance, and focus on the ultimate goal. After all,
realization is not for the weak and ordinary. It is a gift
for those who are passionate about the Truth and who
want the gift of ultimate bliss and peace without the
shadow of suffering. If one wants to enjoy this state of
liberation, it cannot happen without realization,
which in turn cannot happen without discipline.

Thus, discipline is key to the realization of the Truth.

Discipline opens the doors to spiritual secrets
unknown to common man. It helps transcend the ego,
mind and body and makes us realize that we are the
Divine Soul, which is our true identity.

57
29 Yoga ItisisnotUnion
just Physical Gymnastics.
with the Divine
The world has misunderstood Yoga to be an art for the
wellbeing of the body consisting of physical exercise
and stretching of the body in various positions. Some go
one step further and add breathing exercises and
techniques and call it Yoga. No doubt that the physical
exercise 'Asana' and breathing techniques 'Pranayama'
are part of Yoga. But by themselves, they are not Yoga.
So, what is Yoga?

I realized that the word Yoga comes from the word

'Yog' which means union. It implies our union with
the Divine. Our constant connection with the Lord
which calls for disconnection with the world. How
can we be in Yoga, in Divine union? To understand
this connection, we can consider it to be like a simple
SIM card that is constantly connected with the
network from a satellite.

My study led me to realize that there are 8 steps -

often referred to as limbs. It starts with moral self-
restraint and observing discipline for self-
It also calls for mindful breathing and body control
without which we will be disturbed and distracted.
One has to go beyond, turning inwards and
withdrawing the senses that crave. Having done so,
Yoga calls for concentration, focus, single-pointed
attention. This leads us to what we call meditation
where ther -
pointed focus. Ultimately, Yoga helps us disconnect
from the world and we experience an ecstasy that
unites us with the Divine.

58
 Yoga is not just Physical Gymnastics. It is Union with the Divine

A true Yogi, the one who is in Yoga, lives in constant

union with the Divine, liberated from all the cravings
of the material world. Yoga is about transcending ego,
mind, and body as one follows all these steps needed
to be one with the Divine.

I realized that it is most unfortunate that people have

commercialized Yoga and made it look like
something exotic with physical gymnastics and
breath control. A true Yogi realizes that breath control
and physical process do assist in the overall practice
of Yoga but are not the true essence of Yoga.

My realization about Yoga led me to practice as a

Yogi, being constantly united with the Divine. This is
practically impossible because as long as we are alive
we need to use body and mind and this connects us to
the world in which we live. However, a true Divine
Yogi is one who lives in the world like a lotus living
in a dirty pond but not sinking in it. The Yogi lives
with the realization that the world itself is a
manifestation of the Divine. The Yogi is able to keep
the constant connection because he sees Divinity in
everything. Yoga helps us enjoy peace and bliss that
are beyond what words can express. Only a Yogi
knows and enjoys a state of being in Yoga.

Do you want to realize the Truth about life? Then start

the practice of Yoga, of being in union with the Divine.
Be conscious of the Divinity in you and all around you
to experience the bliss that true Yoga gives.

59
30 We Destroy our own Peace

Who doesn't want peace of mind? But how many

people truly enjoy this bliss? Peace is the foundation
of happiness. Stress, worry, and anxiety are enemies
of joy. Still, we lose our peace of mind and don't even
realize why.

I realized that we destroy our own peace by letting

our mind wander into thoughts of worry, regret, fear,
anger, and the likes. Let us analyze what is peace of
mind. If you sit in silence for a few minutes you are
sure to experience a glimpse of peace. Stop the
thinking process. Do not permit your mind to think.
Just picture a still lake and be silent.

What creates peace? It is our own MTR. The mind is

capable of producing a thought every second. This can
be a whopping 50,000 thoughts a day. If we permit our
mind to do so, we are sure to lose our peace of mind.
These very thoughts create the stress that we want to
overcome to enjoy the state of peace and bliss. But with
our mind constantly thinking, it automatically creates
stress. The mind is a negative thought generating
expert. It will jump into the past and make us regret as it
replays a misery. The mind takes us there and creates
thoughts that rehearse the past. We nurse it and curse it
as our mind produces the poison of negativity. The
mind doesn't stop. It then jumps to the future to
produce more toxins. It makes us fear and worry about
something that may never happen but it reminds us of
all the possible dangers. This constant swinging of the
mind with thoughts going like a pendulum from the
past to the future is the primary cause of us losing our

60
 We Destroy our own Peace

peace of mind. I realized that I have to catch this thief,

this joy stealer that is depriving me of peace. The thief
was none other than my own mind.

I found that we can practice doing things that reduce

our Mental Thought Rate. We can train the mind by
slowing down its pace – m
contemplate on meaningful and joyous things. A still
mind is a peaceful mind. The moment we lose control, it
is like letting go of the reins of a chariot that is driven by
5 horses – our 5 senses. If we let go of mind control and
sense control, we are doomed and we will never
experience the peace of mind that we seek.

Peep into your own life. Do you enjoy peace of mind?

Or are you stressed, worried and unhappy. If you are,
then you are responsible for destroying your own
peace. The good news is that there is hope. You can
discipline your mind, control it and reduce your MTR
– Mental Thought Rate. You can use simple
techniques like spending time in silence every day,
meditating or contemplating a positive thought,
eliminating all the negative emotions in your life like
anger, hate, jealousy, and revenge.

positive emotions and control the reins of your mind

peace of mind – the very foundation of joy, bliss, and

happiness.

61
31 Happiness is in the Now

While everybody wants to be happy, not everybody is.

Why is happiness so elusive? The whole world is
searching for happiness, craving for joy, but few people
are truly happy. I went in search to discover the Truth.

In my quest for happiness, I suddenly experienced an

'Aha' moment. There was a very simple but effective
way of being happy. It was this – Happiness is in the
Now!

Unfortunately, we are unhappy because we are trying to

be happy in the past that is gone and in the future not
yet born. Nobody can go to the past, except the rascal,
our own mind. You can go to New York or London but
you cannot go to yesterday. Still, the mind takes us to
the past and makes us suffer. Then it jumps to
tomorrow, next week, and next month although we
know that tomorrow doesn't exist, only today does.
When we constantly shuttle between the past and the
future, we lose consciousness of the present moment
and happiness only depends on the present moment.

We can do something we like, be with somebody we

love or count our blessings even if we are facing some
trouble. It is possible to be happy in the now! If we
make it a habit to be happy moment by moment, our life
itself will become happy, because it is moments that
create hours, days, months, years and life. If only we can
be happy in the moment, we can be happy forever.

Happiness is all about being happy in the now. It seems

62
 Happiness is in the Now

so easy but not many people are happy because most

people do not live in the now. They jump from
yesterday to tomorrow and miss out on the peace and
bliss that belongs to this moment – the NOW.

I realized that if we want to be truly happy, all we

have to do is to be in the present with joy and peace.
This is the ultimate secret of happiness! We must
eliminate this constant jumping like a monkey from
the past to the future.

How does one remain in the Now? One has to be

conscious of the present moment, not let it slip away.
Somehow, we have not trained ourselves to be in the
present moment, the Now. We are always living in
the past and in the future. This habit of living in
yesterday and tomorrow is the key to losing the Now.
Unfortunately the happiness we seek does not exist
anywhere else except in the Now, the present
moment. Thus, my realization made me conscious of
the Now and made me live my life moment by
moment blissfully and peacefully.

Sure there are moments of stress and worry in

everyone’s life but with the habit of being in the now,
one can transcend the worry, fear, and anxiety and
rather live in moments of peace and calm. Try it. it
works.

63
32 We believe in Myths

Just because somebody told us that Santa Claus will

bring gifts on Christmas, it doesn't mean that it is
true. As we grow up, we know that it is not Santa but
our family members who place the gifts under the
Christmas tree. But when will we actually grow up to
realize the myths of life?

I realized that most of humanity believes in myths.

We hear something, and without using our intellect,
we blindly believe it. We don't discriminate between
what is right and wrong, what is true and what is
false. Somebody tells us that God is made of skin and
bone and we believe it. We don't think that God is
immortal. God cannot be made of skin and bone. We
just believe in mythological tales. We don't realize
that mythology was created to make children
understand some concepts like that of God. As we
grow and we evolve, we must let go of the myth and
realize the Truth. Most unfortunately, we don't. We
believe in the myth until we die.

We have been told that if a black cat crosses our path

then it is a sign of bad luck and thus, we should stop
and not go forward. We believe in this lie without it
having any logic. Such beliefs hinder our growth, our
progress, and our evolution. To start with, we must
acknowledge the presence of myths and superstitions
and question every ritual that we are told to perform.
If we don't question and we blindly accept the myths,
living with superstitions, we will continue to live with
ignorance, and die without realizing the Truth.

64
 We believe in Myths

Realization is about busting the myth and realizing

the Truth. Somebody said the whole world was
caused by a Big Bang. How could this be the
beginning? Who caused the Big Bang? We must

then we will discover the Truth.

Most people pray and when we pray, we look up at the

sky, at heaven as if God is there, up above. Then we are
told that after we die we will go to heaven or hell. But
can't we see that our body is cremated or buried here on
earth? Then who will go, how will we go and where will
we go? Don't just believe in a myth. Question
everything. And if there is no proof, there must, at least,
be inference before anything is accepted.

When we believe in a myth, we are agreeing to

believe in ignorance and by doing so we will never
realize the Truth. Life is all about the realization of the
Truth. It's time to stop and make a list of all the
myths, the superstitions, and rituals present in our
life. The moment we start questioning things and start

the Truth about life. I realized this and I do not accept

any myth, any superstition until I am logically
convinced of the Truth.

Make a list of all the myths that you believe in. Then,
question each one and inevitably you will realize how
illogical they are and as a result, you will experience
peace and bliss in your life.

65
33 We are fooled by the
Cosmic Illusion – Maya
What is Maya? It is the name given to this cosmic
illusion, this world that we live in. Maya is very
powerful and it has two powers: the power of
concealing the Truth and projecting the myth.

I realized that we, human beings don't see beyond. If

asks us what it is, we immediately say that it's a ring.

In reality, this is Maya, an illusion. It is not a ring, it is
only gold. If we remove the gold from the ring, there
is no ring. Then why do we call it a ring? This is
because it appears to be the ring.

A villager once came to a city and his friend took him for a
movie. It was a movie on war. He then asked the villager,
“What do you see?” “I see horses,” the villager responded.
“What do you see beyond?” “I see elephants.” “And what
do you see beyond elephants?” “I see smoke going up into
the sky.” “And what do you see beyond the sky?” the friend
asked again. “Nothing. I don't see anything beyond.” The
friend was teasing the villager and soon the movie was
over. He then asked the villager, “What do you see?” He
said, “I see nothing. Just a plain, blank screen.”

Just like the movie concealed the screen and projected

Maya conceals the reality of this world and
projects the illusion. Unfortunately, due to our
ignorance, we are unable to see beyond. We are unable
to realize the presence of Maya, the cosmic illusion.

We live our life being fooled by this cosmic illusion,

Maya. We start believing that we are what our name is

66
 We are fooled by the Cosmic Illusion – Maya

when in reality we are something else. We start

believing that we are born and we will die. But in
reality, we are just pure energy. Because we are fooled
by this cosmic illusion, we suffer. Because Maya makes
us believe that we are body-mind complex we
experience the misery of body and mind. Our goal is to
overcome the cosmic illusion and realize the Truth.

I realized that this whole world is nothing but a cosmic

illusion. In fact, even science agrees that matter is
nothing but energy that appears as matter. But because
of Maya, we are unable to see the Truth. We are carried
away by forms and appearances and do not investigate
intrinsically is the Truth within. That is our
ultimate goal - to realize the Truth about life. Because
we believe in the illusion, our entire philosophy and
paradigm of life is based on illusion and not reality.

I realized that there is only one way to realize the

Truth. We must stop and ask questions. If somebody
said this is a sweater, we must ask, “Is this a sweater
or is this wool that is knitted to appear as the
sweater?” We need to go deep, we need to investigate
until we arrive at the Truth. What appears on the
surface may only be an illusion, not the reality. But
the goal of life is the realization of the Truth. When
we see a mirage in the desert, don't we know it's just
an illusion? So is this world. It is a big cosmic illusion.

67
34 Every Effect has a Cause and
we are just the Effects
I realized that there was something called the Law of
Causation. It is based on three tenets:

1. Every cause has an effect

2. The effect is nothing but the cause in a different form

3. If you remove the cause, there will be no effect

Let's understand the Law of Causation, Gold is the

cause, the ring, the bracelet, and the chain are just effects
of gold, different forms of gold. If you remove the gold
nothing remains. There is no ring, bracelet or chain. So it
is with mud or clay. Mud is the cause; the pot, the plate,
and the statue are just effects – a different form of clay.
If you remove the mud, nothing remains.

The Law of Causation made me realize a profound

Truth. We are all effects of the Divine. The Divine
Power, Cosmic Energy is the cause. We appear as
what we seem to be only because of the cosmic
energy that is within us. The moment the cosmic
energy leaves, we become nothing. We are just effects
of the cause, just like a ring is an effect of the cause -
gold. When the gold leaves the ring, nothing remains.

While we are able to understand it clearly in the case of

we too are nothing but effects and the cause is the

Divine. But this is the Truth – the absolute Truth.
Because we live in ignorance we don't realize the Truth.

68
 Every Effect has a Cause and we are just the Effects

We all see waves in the ocean. And the waves appear to

be waves but in reality, they are not. Waves are nothing
but the ocean appearing as the wave. The ocean is the
cause and the wave is the effect. Again, when we
contemplate, we easily understand the Truth about the
wave and the ocean. The challenge is for us to realize
that we too are nothing but effects. What is the cause?

I realized the Truth when I contemplated death. What

happens at death? When the energy within us leaves,

evaporates and the space we occupy shrinks. We return

to become a handful of ashes. We are nothing. As long
as we are alive, we are unable to realize this. The Truth
is that each of our 37 trillion cells is nothing but energy.
When scientists took a human cell and broke it down to
its tiniest particle, beyond electrons, protons, and
neutrons – they reached the tiniest particle, a Quark. On
deep examination, they found that it was nothing but
energy. If science too agrees that we are nothing but
energy, then how long will we take to realize the Truth?

The Truth is that we are nothing. We are all

manifestations of the Divine Energy that appears as
you and me. Just like the ring thinks it is different
from the chain, we think we are different from each
other but in essence, we are all different effects from
one cause. The Divine is the cause. We human beings
and all life on earth are just effects.

69
 Purification, Illumination,

35 Unification are our three final steps

- self-realization that
leads to liberation, we must pass through a three-step
method. I had not heard of this till my Guru, my
spiritual master mentioned it to me.

What did I realize? I realized that we, human beings live

saints even talk of Satvik or pure food. Everything that

we take into our body causes us to be pure or impure. Is

food poisoning? Still, we live our life letting our body

ation of the body is

impure thoughts, thoughts that create toxins in our

mind. Our mind continues living with thoughts of fear,
worry, anxiety, jealousy, hate, revenge and anger. These
thoughts produce toxins and we, embodied Souls, in
this body-mind complex continue to live impure lives.

is to eliminate these impurities, a process called

then we are ready to realize the Truth.

The next step is illumination. As the name suggests,

illumination is enlightenment. When the light in our
life is switched on, the darkness disappears. Yes, it

At
lived in darkness. Once we experience illumination
and we are able to see the Truth, we realize the Truth.

70
 Purification, Illumination, and Unification are our three Final Steps

Many people cross these two hurdles. They purify

their lives and they realize the Truth but very few
people are fortunate and blessed with the grace to

Even after illumination and realization of the Truth,

we continue to live in ignorance. Unless there is a
passion for the Divine and for liberation, many of

sink into this world of illusions. A rare minority

evolve and a
are not ME, the mind and ego, but energy. They do
not have to return by taking rebirth. They are
liberated to become one with the Divine. This is the

we all are God-particles. We come from the Creator

and ultimately we have to go back to the Creator.
Because of our ignorance, we don't realize the Truth.
We live, we die, we cry and we don't know why.

I feel grateful that I have realized the Truth of this

three-step process to reach our ultimate goal – to
unite with the Divine, to be liberated from this world
of illusion and suffering. This is our ultimate goal.
–
ery

Take stock of your life. Analyze where you are on the

journey of self-realization.

71
36 There can be no Freedom
from Action
Can anybody who is alive in this world be free from
action? We can be free for the moment, we can be free
for a day or a few days. But can we live without action?

I realized that we, human beings are created in a way

that we have to act. We have to get up from our bed,
go to the toilet, eat and exercise. Our body is such that
unless it is incapacitated by something like coma or a
body condition that makes us immobile, by nature,
we cannot live without action.

However, I stumbled upon another spiritual Truth.

While there can be no freedom from action, we can
evolve to a state of being free in action. What does
this mean? Although we are in action, when we
realize that the body and mind are in action but we
are neither of them and that we are the Divine Energy
that gives life to the body-mind complex, then we
disown the actions of the body and mind and distance
ourselves from all of their actions.

Anyone who becomes free from action goes a step

further. Such a liberated person lives as an instrument
of the Divine. As an instrument, one does not own the
actions. One surrenders to the Divine Will and acts on
behalf of a Power beyond. One goes a step further
and surrenders all action to the Divine without any
expectation of result. When we act as the Divine
instrument without any expectation – we are
liberated. This was a profound realization.

Look

72
 There can be no Freedom from Action

handover the music to the Divine. Everything that is

done through us is as per the Divine Will.

On the other hand, when we live as the ego, mind, and

body then we believe that we are the ones responsible
for the action. We are the doers. In this case, we get
caught in the Law of Karma, the Law of Action and
Reaction. We will have to wait for the redemption of our
own action – good or bad. Because of this, we can never
be liberated from this world and achieve our ultimate
goal. Fortunate is he who realizes that though we cannot
be free from action, we should be free in action. This
happens when we realize that we are not the body and
mind that we appear to be. We are the Divine Soul, the
Life Energy. We are just like the electricity that gives
power for the light to glow. Neither are we the glass
bulb nor the element that glows. We are just the power
that gives life to the body-mind to move and to do.

When we realize the Truth then we are liberated from

all action and although we act, we are free from the
result of such an action because our action is not
motivated by body and mind but is rather inspired by
the Divine Energy on whose behalf we act. This is
called being free in action although we know that
there can be no freedom from action.

73
37 We will be Reborn, unless…

While there is no proof of rebirth, why does the world

believe in it? Just like there is no proof of gravity but
we know gravity exists by inference, people today
believe that rebirth may very well be true. Why?

Two major theories cause people to believe in rebirth.

First, because there is a Law of Karma, the Law of
Cause and Effect. It only seems logical that we must
be reborn to redeem our good and bad deeds.
Further, why is it that somebody is born in fortunate
and happy circumstance and somebody is born in
misery, sickness and even physically or mentally
challenged? There seems to be a continuous account
in our life which causes rebirth. Another recent
realization is that some children seem to know how to
play the guitar or how to read a scripture or are aware
of a place that they have never visited. Unless these
young kids have minds that are reborn in a new body,
how is it possible for them to know?

In the quest for realizing the Truth, I did a lot of study

on death and rebirth. And I realized some basic facts.
Our body doesn't live forever. The body dies. But what
happens to the one that was alive in the body? The Soul
is the Life Energy that arrived in the body, anywhere
between conception and birth. We don't know anything
beyond this fact. However, putting all the pieces of the
spiritual puzzle together, I had an intuitive realization.

At death one of the two things happens. If we believe

we are the body and mind then the body dies but ME,
the mind and ego are reborn because of our own

74
 We will be Reborn, unless…

actions, our Karma. However, if we realize the Truth

that we are not the body-mind but we are the Divine
Life Energy, then this realization can liberate us at death
to unite with the Divine. In such a situation we do not
need to experience a rebirth as our realization of the
Truth drops all our past Karmas and we are liberated.

Unless we realize the Truth and we are liberated, it

seems like we have no option and we have to be

good Karmas then it seems that we are born in

fortunate circumstances. This is not due to random
luck but as per the design of the universal law. If we
have been cruel and our actions are considered to be
sinful, then we cannot escape from a rebirth that will
make us miserable.

But there is a way to escape rebirth, to escape our

own Karma. It starts with the realization of the Truth
that we are not the body, we are not the mind. This
realization leads to liberation from the cycle of death

Buddha, the Awakened one who started Buddhism

and he called it Nirvana. Most of the religions follow
similar beliefs but call them by different names.
Unless one goes on a quest, one will never realize the
Truth about death and rebirth. We must, of course,
realize this Truth before we die.

75
38 Self-realization is not a Discovery
Out of all my realizations, one realization was this –
that realization was not a discovery. There is a big
difference between discovering something and
realizing something. When you discover something, it

can prove it. But realization is an intuitive experience

where we come to know of something which we did
not know earlier. We may not be able to prove it but
we become absolutely sure that it is the Truth.

Can you discover that there is a nose on your face? You

don't need to discover it, you know it. You can touch it
and feel it. You can discover a book in the library that
you were looking for. You weren't sure but you got it.
But what about God? Can you prove that God exists?
You can't. However, you realize that this entire universe
could not have come out of nothing. You realize that
there must be a Creator whom we call God. Otherwise,
how would you and I came about? This is a realization
but it is not a discovery. Nobody has discovered God.
Nobody can discover God. While we realize that the
Creator exists, the Creator cannot be discovered. The
Creator must be realized.

I realized that to realize the Truth, we must open our

“real eyes.” As long as we live in ignorance and we
believe in the myth we will never realize the Truth.
The Truth is the Truth and nobody can deny it, just as
something untrue doesn't become true because it is
advertised on social media screens.

Those on a quest for self-

76
 Self-realization is not a Discovery

understand that they are not on a search to discover

something. In fact, we cannot discover anything. But
arts with
realizing what we are not – realizing that we are not the
body or mind. If we are not the body or the mind but we
exist, then who are we? Then we realize that when the
Life Energy departs, the body dies. It is the same Life
Energy that arrives when we are born. So we realize that
we are that energy - what is known as the Atman or the
Soul. All this is realization, not a discovery.

Self-realization is nothing but realizing the self – who

we are. Those who don't realize the self, discover
themselves to be the body and the name and title that
they own. Their ego dominates their life as they
continue to live in ignorance until they die.
Unfortunately, what they discover is not the Truth but
what appears to be. Realization is nothing but the Truth
but unfortunately, it is not a game for the ordinary. Less
than 1 percent of humanity goes on a quest for self-
realization and less than one percent of these realize the
Truth. Therefore, a very small fraction of humanity
experiences realization that leads to liberation.

Since the world asks for proof, self-realization doesn't

happen. But those who are blessed with a steady
intellect ultimately realize the Truth.

77
39 The War within will Continue

What happens to the one who realizes the Truth? Is

self Realization the end of the game? No. In fact, it is
the beginning. Realization is the start of a journey
towards liberation. When I realized answers to the
questions I set out for, I thought I would have
achieved what I wanted. But my realization started a
new journey of Life. Here I was with the realization
that I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am the
Atman, the Soul that is embodied and encapsulated in
a body-mind complex. Next, what?

This started a new war within. I realized that the

body was only a habitat where I live and I should not
fall prey to the senses. I started renouncing many
things, which I knew would help me towards my goal
of liberation. But the body didn't sit still. It fought
back with more desires and more cravings. While I
realized that I was not the mind, and the mind was
only a rascal that was dragging me into the cosmic
illusion, the mind refused to accept this realization. It
fought very hard to stop me from living as AiR, the
Atman in Ravi. In the beginning, when somebody
asked me who I am, the mind would answer Ravi, till
I consciously but surely deleted the concept that I was
Ravi Melwani. Ravi Melwani was no more. Of course,
I the Atman, existed in the body of Ravi but I was not
Ravi. I was AiR, the Atman in Ravi, i.e., Soul in Ravi.

My realization of Truth triggered a war within me

which I least expected. I did not know that after
realization liberation would be such a struggle. But it
seems that everybody who realizes the Truth

78
 The War within will Continue

experiences the war between the body and mind on

one side with the ego saying it is me, and the Soul,
using the intellect on the other side, trying to be
liberated post-realization.

Liberation is not an ordinary thing. It is very rare to

meet a liberated Soul - one who has not only realized
the Truth but has gone beyond realization; one who
has won the battle and transcended the ego, mind,
and body although one continues to live in it. This is
probably life's biggest challenge.

In fact, it seems like we are a bird that wants to

escape, and we are trying to get out through the door

body close the door and keep us enslaved in the

prison of the body-mind complex. The war continues
till either we are liberated or we die only to be reborn
for another struggle.

How many people know what life is all about? Life

itself is a war, isn't it? We live, we die and we are
reborn. And we struggle through life. But after
realization – the struggle is to be liberated. If we do
not win the war against our own ego, mind, and
body, then it is most unfortunate that we will have to
be reborn to continue the battle. Therefore, those who

renouncing the world and seeming to be lunatics.

They do not care what the world thinks about them.
Their realization propels them to achieve liberation.
This is their ultimate goal and they seek nothing else.

79
40 We can live with everlasting
Peace and Joy
Every human being has a dream that their life must
be full of happiness, that they should escape from all
misery and sorrow, that they should live peacefully
and blissfully forever! Is it possible?

I realized that this is possible, although it seems

impossible. Ask anybody who has realized the Truth
and they will endorse this. Yes, we can live with
everlasting peace and joy.

I realized that we lose our peace to our mind. Our

own mind is our biggest enemy. It steals our peace by
producing thoughts that make us anxious. It then
goes on to desire and crave. These lead us to be
disappointed and start our journey of misery. Is it
necessary to become miserable? No, it's our choice.

thing. First, it is about understanding what happiness is,

resolving to be happy in the moment. I realized that

approach to be dominant in our life and to last forever.

Unfortunately, most people fail on any one count. Either
they fail to learn how to be happy or they fail how not to
be unhappy. The challenge is twofold -
ways to be happy and we must also ensure that we
don't become miserable. I was fortunate to realize a
method that guarantees both.

Everlasting happiness doesn't depend only on the

pleasure that comes from achievement. I realized this

80
 We can live with everlasting Peace and Joy

My happiness was not just based on pleasure but

rather built on a foundation of peace. As I lived my
life with peace, bliss, and joy, I realized that I was
attacked by misery and sorrow. Then I found how to
transcend misery, to escape from desires and cravings
that cause disappointments and unhappiness. I
realized that everlasting joy, peace, and bliss is
possible if we learn to live in acceptance and Divine
surrender, living life moment by moment without
shuttling between the past and the future. Realization
of the Truth eliminated all fear and worry because I
realized that everything was a cosmic drama.

All these realizations together made the dream real.

The dream that we can live with everlasting peace
and joy became real in my life. I lived as the Divine
Soul, seeking nothing but being conscious of the
Truth and by doing so, enjoying a state of Ananda –a
state of peace and tranquillity, of bliss and joy that
seemed as endless as the ocean.

Anybody who realizes the Truth can experience this

Ananda, this peace and this joy, just as they can be
liberated from misery and sorrow. They can continue
to be in this state every day of their life till they are

81
41 Everything beautiful is Divine

We human beings get excited when we see something

beautiful. We get amazed by a beautiful sunrise or

below the ocean waters, or tulips with those brilliant

colours and so on. But unfortunately, we don't get
amazed by the Creator of all these.

I realized that we do appreciate nature but because

we don't realize that everything beautiful is Divine,
we don't discover the amazing Truth of Life.

natural beauty was the creation of the Creator we call

God. Obviously, the gorgeous snow mountains of
Switzerland and the exotic turquoise waters and white
sands of the Maldives didn't just happen on their own.
These spectacular creations are the works of an amazing
artist, a Power beyond human comprehension. Because
we don't get amazed by the Creator, we don't fall in love
and don't seek the Master of these masterpieces. I was
once completely amazed when I saw a blanket of white
fog enveloping acres of green mountains, making it
disappear in one second. There were times when I was
appreciating millions of stars in the sky and then as if
somebody waved a magic wand, I couldn't see a single
star and instead a storm took over and there was
thunder, lightning, and rain. What an amazing Creator,
and what a magical creation!

This led me to the next step - how did the Creator create
all these – the mountains, the oceans, the meadows, the
jungles, billions of human beings, plants, animals,

82
 Everything beautiful is Divine

insects, and sea creatures? When I went on a deep quest,

I had this profound realization that all these are effects
of the cause – the Creator. These were not just creations,
but manifestations of the Divine. The profound
realization was – the Creator has not created all this but
rather the Creator manifests as these wonders!

My other previous realizations led me onto this

discovery. There can be no other Truth. The beauty
inside these beautiful manifestations appears only as
long as the Divine energy exists within. The moment the
Life Energy, the Divine, leave
enchanting bird or a gorgeous human being, all the
beauty disappears. Is this not enough to realize the
Truth that everything beautiful is Divine? Can't we see
through the billions and trillions of living things and
realize the one Power that is in them all? The power of
life! It is the power of life that gives beauty to all natural
wonders. The moment there is death and the Divine
departs, the beauty ceases. Those who realize the Truth
about life start seeing Divinity in everything beautiful. It
is only after this realization that you can even see
Divinity in things that are not beautiful.

What does this realization lead to? This realization is

magical because it leads us to seeing the Divine in
everything beautiful. I no more see beauty as beauty,
rather, I see the Divine in all the beauty that I observe
and experience. This is truly blissful.

83
42 Religion is the Kindergarten
to Spirituality
All religions are good. Every religion in this world
teaches us to believe in God and to pray. Thereafter,
they may have their own doctrines, rituals, and
philosophy to follow. But in essence, one thing they
all advocate is that God exists, God is the Creator and
we must pray to God. However, when I went into a
study of all the religions, I stumbled upon a Truth.

What did I realize? While every religion has its own

share of positives and people need not change their
religion to realize the Truth, I realized that religion was
just the kindergarten to spirituality. We must all go
through religions, but then go beyond to realize the
Truth, just like we all need kindergarten to learn a basic
language - it may be English, Hindi, French or Chinese,
it hardly matters. But without learning a language, we
can't graduate into anything meaningful. We may earn a

engineering, but without passing kindergarten, we can't.

Without religion, one cannot achieve a spiritual
evolution. First one needs to understand that God exists.
One must believe and accept and then live with faith,
hope, trust, and enthusiasm. This is like going through
high school, a process that is needed after being taught,
coached and trained with the basics.

Only a rare minority, the genuine seekers of Truth

evolve spiritually. They go in search of who they are,
who God really is and what the purpose of life is.
Some arrive on the path seeking happiness or being
frustrated and fed up with life.

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 Religion is the Kindergarten to Spirituality

However, nobody who is on the path of spirituality

can evolve without the basic foundation of some
religion. It need not be a formal religion. It could just
be praying to the power of nature, like one prays to
the sun, to the clouds, to the wind, or to the waters,
acknowledging the existence of a Divine Power.

Does every student who passes kindergarten achieve

noteworthy success? Of course not. This is just basic.
We need to evolve. We need to go beyond. We need
to realize the Truth. What is the difference between a
person alive and a person dead? There is no
difference except that the life that exists in each of our

explain this. We need a spiritual evolution to get to

the Truth. We need to go on a quest with a passion for
the Divine and persistence to discover the purpose of
life. We need to go far beyond religion - but we must
realize that we don't need to change our religion. We
must just use our intellect and logic and delve into
every doubt. We must ask questions, we must
investigate. We must realize the Truth.

However, we must never underestimate the importance of

religion. It is the kindergarten to spirituality and builds in
us the basic foundation of belief in God. Without this, one
may never achieve a spiritual realization.

85
43 Realization eliminates Suffering

Most people in this world suffer because they don't

realize the Truth. For instance, they try to insert an
old model wire into their new mobile and damage
expensive equipment. They do it out of sheer
ignorance, indifference, and carelessness. Then they
suffer and cry because they are told that they
damaged the motherboard.

I realized that we don't need to suffer. If we carefully,

cautiously and intelligently deal with our life, we can
move forward and evolve, eliminating all suffering.

Why do we suffer? One of the key reasons is that we

desire and get disappointed. Isn't it really foolish to
intentionally create suffering? We know it, but still,
we do it. Why? Because we are slaves of the ego,
mind, and body. Unfortunately, we don't know that
we are slaves! First, we don't know who we truly are
and second, we don't realize that we are slaves. When
we realize the Truth, we are enlightened and with the
overcoming of ignorance, suffering ceases.

True realization is not just having the knowledge of

the Truth, it is being liberated from the ignorance that
causes suffering. Therefore, in reality, this chapter
should read – 'Liberation Eliminates Suffering'. But
t
happen without realization.

Nobody really wants to suffer. But because we live and

die in ignorance, we continue to suffer. We suffer the
pain of the physical body, the emotional pain of the

86
 Realization eliminates Suffering

mind and the foolish pain of the ego. Don't we see

becoming miserable over petty issues? This is because

we are so deeply embedded in ignorance that we
don't realize that nothing belongs to us. Then, we
become miserable because of fear, worry, anxiety,
regret, anger, hate, jealousy, and revenge. And we
continue to suffer due to the non-realization of the
Truth that everything is a cosmic drama. We must
surrender and accept, realizing that life is just like a
dream that will soon be over.

Suppose I had a dream, in which four of my

neighbours beat me black and blue and I woke up
screaming with pain. Will I immediately run to their
houses with all my weapons to avenge the dream? Of
course not. That would be foolish of me. And while I
realize that a dream is just a dream, I don't realize that
this life too is transitory . Does anybody in this world
think that they will be here forever? Then why do we
live with ignorance, and suffer and become
miserable? It is because we don't realize the Truth.

Realization of the Truth eliminates all suffering, just like

enlightenment removes all the darkness that stops us
from seeing what truly exists. If we want to transcend

suffering will automatically cease to exist.

87
 We must Accept, Not wonder

and 44 Replace Hope with Surrender

What is one of the major causes of our suffering?
Something happens and we don't forget it. We nurse it,
we curse it and we rehearse it. To add insult to injury,
we keep hoping for something else to happen. And it

I realized that there was a simple solution to eliminate

this constant festering of unhappiness. Instead of
wondering why something went wrong in the past and
nursing it like a wound that has still not healed, then
cursing it with all the hurt that is within us and then
rehearsing it again and again – thereby multiplying our
unhappiness and misery, we should rather accept it,
forget it and be done with it. Instead of living with our
past regrets, we must take them to the cemetery and
bury them – bury them so deep that they go out of our
memory. For when you accept rather than wonder, then
you forget the hurt and start with a fresh new page.

What do you do when you hope and your wish doesn't

come true? Cry! This is a common way to live a
disgruntled and miserable life. One day you hope that it
doesn't rain. And the next day you wish for it to rain. As
if you don't know that you don't control the rains! Then

instead of going out into the garden and plucking your

own favourite ones and decorating your life with joy
and bliss that is within your control. With this constant
hoping, the resultant disappointments are not unusual.

become festering wounds which we wonder and worry

88
 We must Accept, Not wonder and Replace Hope with Surrender

about. “Why did she not accept my proposal?” I

wonder. This is born from hope – I wish she accepts
my proposal.

If only we can replace wonder with acceptance, and

hope with surrender, we can replace misery with joy.
This realization: accept don't wonder, replace hope with
surrender, converted my life into a peaceful and
blissful one.

Most human beings are so worried about the future

only because they have so many hopes, dreams, and
goals. And there is no doubt that all desires, all
expectations will not be ful

desire, curse every hurt and then rehearse this again

and again. Imagine - you stop having passionate
desires and live blissfully in surrender. Then you
wipe out your hurts and accept life as it comes - won't
your life be peaceful and blissful?

Realize the Truth - accept, don't wonder! Don't hope,

desires that will cause you misery and suffering. Your

life will be one of peace, joy, and bliss!

rather, it is surrender that will lead us to joy -

surrendering to the Divine will; not having desires
and wanting them f
Divine surrender.

89
45 My Biggest Enemy is ME

We all have so many enemies, right from our childhood.

We start hating people. We hate the maid who tries to
feed us and we all hate that doctor who gives us
vaccinations. But when we grow up, some of us have
serious enemies. We truly hate a few people in life. This
seems to be very natural though it is foolish because we

enemies. Why do we hate our enemies? Because we

believe that they want to harm us!

I realized that my biggest enemy was ME – my own

Mind + Ego. This ME (mind + ego) causes the most
harm in my life. Why is ME the greatest enemy? It is
because the mind bombards me with thoughts, it
creates stress, and it causes me to worry. But more
important than all this - the mind blocks the
realization of the Truth. It does not permit me to
realize that I am not the body, I am not the mind. It
does not allow me to transcend suffering. It
constantly produces thoughts that make me a
prisoner in this body-mind complex and causes
suffering. Thus, it is one of my two greatest enemies.

My second greatest enemy is my ego. Together ME

(mind+ego) destroy my peace, happiness and the
realization of Truth. The ego constantly makes me
live with a fake identity. We all say - I am John. I am
Mary. I am Smith. I am Sheela. But this is a lie. This is
only our name, but our ego makes us believe the lie.
The ego makes us so entrenched in the personality
that we are, that it seems impossible to change our
identity, realize the Truth, and live as we truly are.

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 My biggest Enemy is ME

There is no doubt that we are not the body and we can't

or the Soul. The ME does not let us live this realization.

Although we know the Truth, we are unable to absorb it
into our daily living. It is the mind and ego that makes
us continue to live with the myth – stealing the Truth
and making us suffer. Thus together, ME – Mind and
Ego are our biggest enemies.

If we really want to live a life of peace, joy, and bliss, we

– ME. How can we
do away with the mind and the ego? As long as we are
alive, we can't. Every human being needs to have an ego
and mind to live but we can transcend it. Using our
intellect, we can overcome the ignorance that we are the
ego, mind, and body. Although we live in a body-mind
complex and though we are the Soul and we refer to
ourselves as “I,” we must live with the realization that
we are not this, we are that. We are not this ego, this
mind, this body. We are that Divine Energy, that power
that gives life for our existence.

It may sound strange that 'ME' is our biggest enemy.

But this is the biggest Truth of life. You know how
your mind can bother you when it worries and how
your ego can cause you to suffer when it becomes
angry. If you transcend ME, you will be liberated
from all misery and sorrow.

91
46 What is Life all about?

When somebody asks you what life is all about, what

would you say? It's about living happily, making others
happy, taking care of our near and dear ones, doing
what we love, achieving our dreams and goals, not
causing harm to anybody, living ethically… that is life.

Most people think all this is what life is about, of course,

with some slight variations. But after realizing the
Truth, I realized that most of us are ignorant about life.
We don't know anything about life. We don't know who
we are and why we are here. Therefore we suffer. If
only we realized the Truth about life, we could live

What is life all about? Life is all about realizing who

we are and why we are here. It is about realizing that
we are not the body that cries in pain. We are not the
mind that lives with regrets and fears and becomes so
miserable. We are not even the ego “I” that keeps
saying I challenge you, I warn you, I will be upset.
This “I” doesn't stop saying this is my house, this is

creates so many attachments that it makes us suffer

beyond imagination. Because we live as the ego, mind
and body, we are constantly suffering. Life is about
realizing who we truly are. We are not the ego, mind

through every nook and corner of the body. Life is

about this but not even one in a thousand will tell you
that this is their life mission.

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 What is Life all about?

why we are here. It is about

life. Life is not just living till we die but it is more about

and ego that we seem to be. The moment we realize this

Truth, then life is about liberation, enlightenment,
salvation, also known as Nirvana or Moksha.

Yes, this is what life is actually about, but unfortunately,

most of humanity doesn't realize this Truth. We live in
ignorance, blinded by Maya, the cosmic illusion and we
go through life. We live and die probably to be reborn
for one more life cycle. While there is no proof of this,
there is enough inference. Just like the Law of Gravity
exists, we know that as long as we live as the ego, mind,
and body we must return to redeem our actions unless
we are otherwise liberated. There is also no doubt that
this world is a bouquet of roses and thorns. We
experience both joy and sorrow and life is about
escaping from this merry-go-round and transcending to
that Divine plane that we call heaven where there is no
misery. This is that ultimate moment where there is

human being's purpose on earth.

This is one of life's biggest realizations - to know who

we are and why we are here. To realize the Truth and

93
47 It's a Metamorphosis,
not a Transformation
Many people think that it is very important to
transform life, to grow, to evolve, and become better.
Of course, it is. But is life just about a transformation?

After 40 years of living as Ravi Melwani, I too

transformed my life. In fact, I shut down my business at
40 as I shocked the world with the decision that instead
of making money, I will make a difference. My
transformation was so drastic that I shed my old name
of Ravi Melwani and lived with a transformed name of
RVM. I thought that this was the biggest change that
anyone could make in life. I lived blissfully for 8 years
doing H.I.S work – humanitarian, inspirational and
spiritual work. I lived as a transformed person blissfully
travelling to over a hundred countries, discovering the
world God has made. One day, my spiritual master
questioned me about what life is all about. He asked me
what our purpose is and inspired me to go on a quest to
realize the Truth. I started my quest and in a few years, I
realized many Truths about life which I have shared in
this book.

One major realization I had was that life is not just about a
transformation because a transformation is reversible. Life
is about a metamorphosis – a complete change. Just like an
ugly, crawling caterpillar goes through a metamorphosis

metamorphosis

my second transformation when I realized the Truth

about life, till I realized that this time it was not a

94
 It's a Metamorphosis, not a Transformation

transformation – it was a metamorphosis. Just like a

AiR – the Atman or Soul in Ravi and I could never ever

go back to being RVM or Ravi Melwani. While RVM
and Ravi Melwani were two sides of the same coin, AiR
was another coin itself. The realization that I was not
Ravi Melwani, not RVM, not the one making money,
not the one making a difference and not the ego-mind-
body was a metamorphosis. This metamorphosis caused
me to realize that it seemed that I was the son of… the
father of… the brother of… but in reality, I was not.
After this metamorphosis, I was a different entity.

I realized after my metamorphosis that life is not just

about realizing, but going through a metamorphosis. It
is not only about realizing, but being liberated from
whom we thought we were to who we truly are. A

being a caterpillar though it realizes that it has evolved

from there. It is not a transformation which is reversible.
It is an irreversible metamorphosis.

I realized that very few people in this world are

fortunate to go through such a metamorphosis. They
are the truly realized Souls. They realize that they are
not this that they seem to be. They are That – the Divine
Spirit that causes life!

95
48 We are Embodied Souls

Who are we? What do you think? You think it's a silly
question! We are who we are. I am Carol, wife of Tom,
daughter of Larry and Sheela. I am the mother of Jim
and Rocky. I am an Australian, a teacher by profession
and a painter by hobby. What more do you want to

tell us about these details. But who are we in reality?

I realized that we are embodied Souls. Maybe she is

Carol and she has so many relationships, a profession,
and hobbies but that is all from the outside. She can also
elaborate that she has a heart, lungs, two kidneys and a
body like everybody has. But that is not unique about
her and so none of us really say that this is what we are.

then she will realize that she is an embodied Soul.

What does this mean? I realized that just like a bird is
in a cage, we too seem to be in a virtual cage of this
body-mind complex. We are a Soul, a Spirit, or Life
Energy that seems to be in some way magically
embodied. The reason we say embodied is that when
the Life Energy leaves then the entire body of several
trillion cells just collapses and we are pronounced
dead. Therefore, in reality, Carol is none other than a
Soul that is embodied in a person named Carol, in a
person who is a teacher and a painter.

When I realized that we are embodied Souls, I realized

something far more profound. Just like electricity
provides light to a bulb in our home, it also provides

96
 We are Embodied Souls

living room and the kitchen; it makes the aircon work

just as it makes the kitchen appliances, the hair dryer,
the television and the music system work. It is one
source of power that is wired to electrify all of these.
And so is this Life Energy!

The Power that is in Carol, the Soul, the Life Energy is

no different from the Life Energy that is in you and me.
We are all powered by one source, the Divine life
source. This is beyond human comprehension, but we
have an intellect that sees that the Life Energy that
departs from a person who is dying just goes out in a

balloons, dead lifeless pieces of rubber, and blow them

up with air, what happens? They bounce with energy.

the air go? The air merged with the air that is
everywhere. Can we retrieve the air that was in each
balloon separately? Impossible! This should inspire us
to know that we are embodied souls and the Soul, the
Life Energy, is the same that exists in all living
creatures. Like air, it is everywhere. At Death, the Soul
too merges with the Cosmic Soul that is everywhere.

This is not something easy to realize but having come

this far one must realize the ultimate Truth to truly
realize life. We are not a body-mind complex that we
thought we were. We are Souls, embodied in it.

97
49 Why Fear, Worry or Regret?

We all live with these negative emotions. Who doesn't?

But is there a way to escape from them? I realized that
we don't need to fear. Fear is FEAR – False Expectations
Appearing Real. Fear is the product of the mind. The
mind is a rascal. It is our biggest enemy. We must kill
the mind before the mind kills us. But how can we kill
the mind if we think it is king? When we realize that it is
not king, it is nothing, and in fact, a joy stealer, then we
will make conscious efforts to defeat it. Because we
permit our mind to cause fear, it corrodes our peace and

the Truth, fear will disappear.

We don't have to live with regret. The past is gone

forever. It can never come back. But by going back to
the past, we will not only suffer but also destroy the
beautiful present. Why do we do this? Because of
sheer ignorance. Don't we know that the past is gone?
Then why do we let the mind go back to the past?
Because we don't activate our intellect. We don't use
our willpower to tie the mind from producing these
idiotic thoughts of regret. Something happened. It's
done. It's over. Of what use is it to rehearse the past?
We can reverse it by some action in the present but
it’s of no use to continue living in the past.

We also need not worry and be anxious, swinging like a

pendulum between the past and the future, worrying
about so many things that may never happen. Actually,
nothing is worth worrying about. Life on earth is a
cosmic drama. Nothing is real. It's all like a dream. We
are all manifestations of one Divine Energy. Because we

98
 Why Fear, Worry or Regret?

live as the ego, mind, and body forgetting that we are

embodied Souls, we worry and we suffer. We know
that worry is a joy stealer. When it enters our mind, it
robs us of our peace and takes our smile away.

If one wants to live a truly happy, blissful and

peaceful life, one must realize the Truth about life.
One must realize who we truly are and transcend
regret, worry and fear just as one overcomes anger,
doubt, hate, and revenge. One can eliminate all the
negative poisons by the realization of the Truth.

It is strange that we human beings want to be happy

but we are the cause of our own misery. We continue
to live in ignorance without realizing the Truth and
cause our own suffering. It is not necessary to suffer.
But somehow, although it seems strange, we choose
to suffer. This is because we don't make an effort to
overcome the ignorance in which we live and we
don't go on a quest to realize the Truth. Because we
don't realize the Truth, we are not liberated from
prisons of misery. We continue to suffer although we
don't want to. Isn't it time to stop existing and start
living, going on a quest to realize the Truth about life
and thereby, eliminating all suffering?

I realized that we don't have to live with Fear or

Regret, being worried and anxious. Thus, I live a life
of eternal peace and joy.

99
50 Self-Realization leads to
God-Realization
Until now we have been discussing life, the realization
of the Truth, liberation from misery and sorrow. We
have also been speaking about self-realization and about
God. God is a mysterious subject and although we
know that God exists we don't know who is God, where
is God, or what is God.

I am grateful that I realized the Truth about self-

realization and God-realization. While self-
realization, I believe, is in our hands, I am convinced
that God-realization is in the hands of the Divine. It is
beyond human effort. Unless God's grace falls upon
us, there can never be God-realization. Let us try to
understand what self-realization is and how it can
lead us to God-realization.

I realized that self-realization is the realization of who

we truly are. Spiritually, we realize that we are the self –
the real self, that Divine Life Energy that exists in every
part of our body. We refer to this as the Atman, the Soul,
the Spirit, the Chi, the Prana, or simply as the Life
Energy. Self-realization is that realization that we are
not the mind, not the ego, not even the body. We are the
Divine Energy that is within.

Once we realize the self, then what happens? Then we

realize that the Divine Energy is the same Divine energy
that is in every human being, in every plant, insect and
animal. In fact, it is the energy that makes the sun glow,

universal energy that is prevalent everywhere. The

seekers of self-realization also seek to attain God-

100
 Self-Realization leads to God-Realization

where is God and what is God. They realize God is

not made of skin and bone. God is a power that is
omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. When one
realizes that the self is the Universal Cosmic Power
and that God too is the Universal Cosmic Power, then
in reality, Self-Realization is God-Realization.

The Power we call God, is the very Power that makes

our heart beat. It is the very power that appears in a

self-realization automatically attain God-realization.

They are not different. When you realize yourself,
you realize God. However, being embodied Souls,
alive in a body-mind complex, though we realize the
self, we may not be blessed enough to realize the
Divine presence of God everywhere. Thus, God
realization needs the grace of the Divine.

When will self-realization actually evolve to God-

realization? Probably when our love and devotion to
God reaches its peak then we will be able to see God
everywhere. We will be able to feel the presence of
the Divine in the temple of our heart. This is God-
realization!

A seeker of self-realization who lives with faith and

surrenders to the Divine renouncing the world and
seeking nothing but God is blessed and will
ultimately realize God.

101
51 There is a limit to

Human Comprehension
While we may all want to realize the Truth about life,
we cannot deny one thing- that we human beings
have limitations. Just like our hand cannot smell but it
can touch and feel, and a nose cannot see but can
smell, we must know and accept that there is a limit
to human comprehension. A human being can realize
the self and if blessed can realize God. But a human
being is not made such that he can go beyond this.

I realized that a human being is mortal although we,

who are embodied Souls, are immortal. The human
body will die but those who realize the Truth know
that they will never die. They will be liberated and

Once there was a man who had a hen that laid golden eggs.
Every other day it gave him a golden egg. And then
thought the man in his ignorance, “Why can't I have all
the golden eggs that are inside the hen?” So he killed it but
found no golden eggs inside.

What does this allegorical tale tell us? It tells us that

Creator. However, we can't. We are not designed to.

We have been blessed with a comprehension to
realize who we are, but if
the very Creator who created us, the very Power who
manifests as 'us', we can't. If we challenge the decision
of our limited comprehension, then we will not
realize the Truth about Life.

We now know that a human being's life span maybe

102
 There is a limit to Human Comprehension

about a hundred years. However, the body is made in

such a way that it will eventually die. Centuries ago,
the life expectancy or average life span was not even
30 or 40 years because of poor health standards and
mass infant deaths. While the life span may have
increased over the years, but death is still inevitable.
We are designed to be mortal as humans, just as those
who realize the Truth, realize that as the Divine Soul,
we are immortal.

While we are blessed to go on a quest to realize the

Truth, let us never forget and accept the limitation of
human comprehension. The Creator has designed
human beings as embodied souls and gifted us the
possibility of self-
Divine, we need not know, nor need we investigate
what lies beyond because that is something beyond
human comprehension. Where would it end if we were

realize that there is nothing beyond. Let us surrender

and accept the Divine Will and be grateful to achieve
self-realization. If one does not accept the limitations of
human comprehension then one has not realized the
Truth! I realized my limitation and live a life of bliss and
joy with the realization of the Truth.

Let us remind ourselves that there is a limit to human

comprehension, but let us do our best to realize the
truth of what we can comprehend to realize who we
truly are and why we are here.

103
52 Living as the Happiest man
in the World
Everybody experiences happiness but who is the
happiest person in the world? We can look around

people are not so happy. It is a myth to believe that

the rich and famous are happy. We can often see them
with stone faces without a smile as they carry stress
and worry in their eyes and furrows of anxiety above
their eyebrows. What is the secret that can make us
the happiest in the world?

I realized that happiness doesn't depend on what you

have. It depends on how you feel. A happy person
appears happy with their smile, with their enthusiasm,
with their laughter. Just as miserable people can be
spotted with their tears, their frowns, their stress, and
worry, which shows through their behaviour and
appearance. You can make out whether a person is
happy or unhappy by the way they walk and talk. Of
course, there are some experts who hide their miseries,

After I realized the truth about life, I live a life of

everlasting peace and joy. Nothing troubles me for I know
that everything is a show. Nothing is real, in this world,
everything is like a cosmic drama and we are just actors
who come and go. I observe the show called life and live
joyously, blissfully and peacefully each day, moment by
moment. I surrender to the Divine Will accepting whatever
happens as the story board of the Creator of the show.
After all, we do not decide what is going to happen, we
have no choice. We have to accept and it’s better we do it
joyously. That's what I do, and by

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 Living as the Happiest man in the World

so doing I am truly happy, no matter what. Anybody

who realizes the truth of life can live as the happiest
person on earth. It
truth about life and about happiness. The key is to
Realize the Truth about Life. Once we do, then
happiness becomes a shadow, following us wherever
we go.

Those who’ve realized the Truth are the happiest

people in the world. Not only have they realized the
Truth and live a life of Nirvana, Ananda and eternal
bliss, but they are also fully liberated from all kinds of
misery. A critical disease like cancer experienced by
, or an
emotional turmoil caused by the mind may affect
others, but nothing seems to affect these liberated
Souls! They are unique for they don't seek Happiness.
They are Happiness! They broadcast peace and joy
wherever they go, to whomever they meet. They
smile, they laugh and neither does a disaster, nor an
achievement impact them. They live in acceptance, in
Divine surrender knowing that nothing matters.

What makes the happiest people in the world truly

happy? It is their relationship with the Divine. They
experience the Divine within them, and around them
all the time. They live conscious of the Truth and this
conscious realization blesses them to be the most
peaceful, the happiest people in the world.

105
 My Self Realization -
Putting It All Together
I too lived in ignorance for 5 decades. When I look
back at my life, I laugh at myself. How could I be
such an ignoramus? Then I realized that we are all
ignorant. In fact, that is the challenge of life – to
overcome ignorance and realize the Truth.

All these realizations are true realizations, no fairy

tales. I have personally been ignorant of each of these
and I am grateful that I have been able to bust the
myth and realize the truth.

Somehow, because we grow up believing the illusions

that we are taught, we tend to accept them as reality.
Actually, they are not. Everybody knows Santa Claus is
a myth. Then why do we let our children believe in the
myth? We very well know that the Creator is a power
and cannot be made of skin and bone. Still we continue
to believe in a Creator that looks like you and me.

I realized that it is time to stop, to ask questions, to

investigate and to realize the Truth.

I hope my journey of Self-Realization will inspire

seekers to question everything till they realize the
ultimate Truth. Then, they too can live a life of
everlasting peace and joy.

106
 POEM
If we don't realize who we are and why we are here If
we are not happy and just live with stress and fear
If we come to earth and don't realize why we are given this
birth Then, can we say we lived? No, at best, we did exist

Everybody wants happiness, who wants to be sad

Who wouldn't exchange a life of misery for one that is glad

They never learn happiness is a journey, not a destination

Are we meant to zoom from our womb to our tomb

Or is life such that we must be locked in a room?
No, life is about living and realizing the Truth
Finding our life purpose, getting to the bottom of the root

The world is chasing success for everyone wants happiness

They cheat, they lie, they steal and cry, and end their life in a mess
They think achievement and money will give pleasure and smiles
Till they learn Success is not Happiness, Happiness is Success

It's crazy but it's true that we earn for others to burn
Silly, we are stingy, we don't spend on what we yearn
Till one day we realize, sadly, that we have money but no life to
live Money that we can't take with us, everything we must give

Achievement creates pleasure, it makes us laugh and smile

But with it come problems that are longer than a mile

There is no stress, there is no worry, just tranquility, and ease

107
Poem

Have you ever wondered why we are anxious and miserable?

We worry about our cough and cold, and how we will pay the bill
The biggest cause of unhappiness is our desires that are not met
We seek something and are disappointed and this makes our eyes wet

What is our life purpose? Why do we come to this earth?

How do these trillion cells together take a magical birth?

Then we are no better than a tree that is tall but just leaning

Instead of just existing, there are questions that we must ask

Let's make our life interesting by doing this curious task
Where is God and who is He? Is it true that God made me?
- was it the seed or the tree?

Are we the body that is born starting as a zygote?

Fools are those who believe that we are made of bone and skin
The Truth is that we are the Life Energy that lives within

We think and worry and fear, that is our mind

Strange, isn't it, where is th
It appears like a monkey jumping from trunk to trunk
Spilling thoughts left and right till we make it into a monk

If I am not the body, I am not the mind, then the question is, who
am I? The ego says, “Oh, it's me! This silly question - why?”
The ego tries to fool us with this mistaken identity
The Truth when we know, only then we will be free

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 Poem

We live in ignorance covered by a blanket that is dark

We achieve many things but what is life, we miss the
mark We foolishly live and do not achieve our own life

The soul which is me will leave for the sky

The body will return to dust, that's no lie
That's the simple Truth, I will never die

There is a power that controls this earth and universe

A power that's kind, that's wise, and does not curse
How is it possible otherwise that the earth goes round and round?
Who is the one that causes all the magic on the ground?

We know God exists but who is, where is, what is God?
Why can't you tell us the secret from the skies, Oh Lord!
We know you exist that's for sure, we have no doubt
You are a power that we know, but we pray: please come out

Life on earth is a Cosmic Drama, we come and we go

Nothing is real, it's like a dream, it's just a Cosmic show
Because we think that life is real, we worry and we cry

Karma is a universal Law, what you give is what you

get As you sow, so shall you reap - on this I can bet
Law of Action and Reaction, those who kill will be made to
hang And it all returns back to us, just like a boomerang

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Poem

Man thinks he can achieve anything but little does he know

th

There is a mysterious 4 Factor that actually controls the show

Man believes results depend on him, his equipment and his act
th

Sad it is but the results lie with the 4 Factor, in fact

There is a way to suffer no more, not to worry, not to

uth of 'who am I?'
Then though the body and mind suffers, that is not me
From regret, fear, worry, pain and misery, I am free

Of course, we all need a good Life Coach who will teach

Otherwise, it is not possible that success we will reach
If we want to
We need a spiritual master, who will open our real eyes

Do you know anybody who has been to heaven or hell?

Are there devils in hell and does heaven have a bell?
The Truth is this, these are not places that anyone can go Sins
or good deeds are redeemed here on earth we must know

If we are not the body and the mind, then who are we?
We are the Soul, the Atman, we are the Life Energy
When the body is born, we enter and we are the cause of birth
We continue to give life to the body till it dies here on earth

We are moving. Time is still. It's stuck like glue

No doubt the clock has a needle. Its ticking doesn't
stop Stop and see time is still. It's we who run and hop

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 Poem

We must realize this Truth that knowledge is not realization

It's the root, it's not the fruit, there must be evolution

Who we are and why we are here, in our Soul this will glow

What is our goal? All religions say it is liberation

We must realize we are the Soul, whatever be our
occupation Most of humanity thinks that happiness is the

Where is the mind? We can

is our intellect who is the master to make the mind slow
The intellect discriminates between what is right and what is
wrong We then choose what we must do and sing a happy song

There is a way to stop all our worries and anxiety

If we live with detachment then from misery we are free It
is passion and desire that makes us expect and crave
If we don't live with dispassion, we will take worries to our grave

What is the key to realization? The secret, do you know?

With discipline of mind and body, towards liberation you can go
If you have no control on your body and your mind

People think yoga is a physical exercise.

This is believed by fools, not the ones who are wise
Yoga is union. It's a connection with the Divine
That is all that matters, and it is truly sublime

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Poem

Who is it that kills and destroys our joy and peace?

It is we ourselves who do it. Let's not blame others,
please! When we start, there is happiness and peace all
around But we desire and we crave and anxiety is found

The one who can be happy in this moment, in the NOW

It is he who can be peaceful, grazing like a Happy cow He
doesn't live with regrets of the past that is gone Nor does
he live with the fear of the future not yet born

Why don't they ask questions and Realize the Truth?

Because we believe in rituals and trust superstition Our
life is in turmoil and we live in stress and tension

Maya is a cosmic illusion. It has two amazing powers

With one it conceals the Truth, with the other, it projects the stars
Nothing is real in this cosmic world, everything is a dream
Because we believe in Maya, we fear, worry, and scream

The Law of Causation states that every effect has a cause

Don't just believe it's a gold ring. Ask questions and pause

left The Divine is the cause, the world and we are just effects

To achieve the goal of life, important steps there are three

In the second step, the darkness goes because of illumination

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 Poem

Every human being on earth has to act and is not free

When we wake up from bed, we wash our faces and be who we must be
While we cannot be free from action and this Truth we do know
We can be free in action and we can let the spirit grow

At death one of two things happen…this is the Divine Truth If we

believe we are body and mind, we will have to take rebirth But
those who realize we are the Soul, from rebirth they are free At
death, their Soul is liberated and one with the Lord, they'll be

Columbus discovered America, the land he could touch and feel

Self-realization can't be discovered. You’ll know it when you peel…
Layer by layer, when you strip apart the body and the mind
You will realize you are neither, you are the Soul that's inside

Even those who realize the ultimate Truth, they are still not free

The Truth you know, you are still prisoner of the mind

Of course, there is a way to everlasting peace and joy

If we are free from body and mind, this bliss we can enjoy

Soul Then we can achieve everlasting joy and peace as our goal

Many things are beautiful, with these beautiful eyes we see

And then we can appreciate how beautiful the Creator can be
But when we realize that everything is a manifestation of the Lord
Then we will not just see beauty, but in beauty we will see God

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Poem

All religions are good for they take us closer to God

But there is one problem, they say their God is the only Lord
Thus, religion is the kindergarten to spirituality we must know
We must go beyond our religion, in spirituality to grow

Realization of the Truth is nothing less than magic

It eliminates regrets, fears and takes away everything tragic
When we realize we are not the body that cries and the rascal mind

When something happens don't wonder, accept the Divine Will

We must trust in the Divine Master, His design and His skill
Rather than hope for something and break our little heart
It is better to surrender to the Divine, just doing our little part

We all have enemies, who doesn't? But the greatest enemy is 'ME'
ME is Mind and Ego, a bigger enemy there cannot be
It bombards us with thoughts and causes anxiety
It makes us suffer in regret and fear and doesn't let us be free

What is life all about, have you ever thought?

Who are we and why we are here, this we have forgot
- we are not body and mind

In a transformation, we make a change, though it is better, not worse

We changed our life from what it was, but this change we can reverse

114
 Poem

We are all Souls embodied in a body and a mind

Without this body-mind complex, the Soul we cannot

The Soul too needs a body and mind and can't be seen by itself

Why do we fear, why do we worry, why do we regret?

Because we live in ignorance, we fume and we fret
But once we realize the Truth that we are not body or mind
We dance with joy and peace, and misery we leave behind

It starts with self-realization, knowing who we truly are

Neither are we the body, nor the mind, but the Soul that shines like
a star
This leads to God-

The human mind can't understand all, it has a limit we must

know The nose can smell, but cannot see and show what eyes can
show And so is the human being created, he cannot think beyond
He can realize the self and realize God, but can't go beyond

I live as the happiest man on earth, what is my secret of

life? I live with peace and joy and bliss. I have no strife I
know I am not body or mind. I am a Divine Soul
To unite with my Lord, My God, is my Life's only Goal.

115
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR -

AiR – Atman or the Soul in Ravi, is an embodied Soul

whose only mission in life is to help people realize the
Truth.

He was born in Bangalore on October 15, 1966. At a very

young age, Ravi V. Melwani mastered the craft of
business and became a very successful businessman
who revolutionized retailing in India with the stores
KidsKemp, Big KidsKemp, and Kemp Fort.

After making millions, he realized that life is not just

about making money. He shut down his business at
the age of 40, transformed his life to RVM, living by
the RVM philosophy – Rejoice, Value Life, and Make
a Difference. He started doing H.I.S. work –
Humanitarian, Inspirational and Spiritual work. His
mission was to 'Make a Difference' in this world
before his journey was over.

As a part of the humanitarian initiative, a charitable

hospital and charitable homes were set up with an
aim to provide free medical treatment and care to the
poor, destitute, and needy. Today, over 700 homeless
and suffering people are served and cared for in
destitute homes and provided with free shelter, food,
clothing, and medical care.

A School of Inspiration was set up that inspired the lives

of many people through motivating talks, inspirational
books and videos, and thought-provoking quotes.

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 About The Author

A Shiva Temple was built in the year 1995 in

Bangalore, which is now known as the Shivoham
Shiva Temple. AiR now believes that religion is just a
kindergarten of Spirituality, and we all have to go
beyond religion to truly realize God.

One day, his Guru provoked him to introspect: What

is the purpose of life? Is life just meant to seek
pleasures and to live and die without any purpose?
What happens after death? Will we be reborn? Where
is God? Several questions like these took him on a
quest, a search for the Truth. He gave up his life of
Achievement and Fulfilment in search of the final
peak of life: Enlightenment.

After a few years of intense search in retreat, deep in the

mountains, he realized that we are not this body. We are
the Soul, the Atman. He changed his name to AiR
–Atman in Ravi. He metamorphosed to AiR and gave
up his entire life as RVM and started living as an
instrument of God doing His Divine Will. This led to
several realizations that formed his new mission of
life – to help people Realize the Truth.

Since then, AiR's life has been dedicated to reaching out

and helping people to eradicate the ignorance that we live
in. Truth is Truth but our mind does not realize that. With
AiR's own realization, he has published several books,
written bhajans, blogs, quotes, poems and taken up several
other initiatives that can direct people

117
About The Author

towards the Truth. AiR's Vision is to make a difference

in people's lives by triggering them to ask questions,
and then to investigate, and eventually, realize God. He
believes that unless people ask questions, they will
never start a quest and even if they start the quest unless
they really investigate, they will not realize the Truth.
This Truth cannot be learned in a school, college or
university, it must be realized. AiR has dedicated his life
to helping people realize the Truth.

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 BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

1. Talaash

'Talaash' means Search or Quest. This book by

AiR is his personal journey to realize the Truth
where he shares his realization that we are not
the body and the mind that we seem to be. We
are a power. The Divine life force is known as
Soul, Spirit or Atman. This search and quest by
AiR made him transform his life. It is a quest
that made him realize the Truth. It might be
just that book that inspires you to liberation.

2. 3 Peaks of Happiness

3 Peaks of Happiness by AiR is a simple book

that talks about the quest of all humanity.
Everybody wants to be Happy. But is
everybody Happy? No. The reason is we are
stuck on the first peak of Happiness –
Achievement. 20% of the people are lucky to
climb the second peak of Happiness –
Fulfilment, which comes from contentment.
But there is a third peak beyond. The third
peak of Happiness will liberate you from the
prisons of misery and sorrow and give you
eternal Joy and Bliss.

3. My Guru, My Mentor, My God on Earth

My Guru, My Mentor, My God on Earth is a book by AiR in

which he shares his experiences with his Guru who

119
Books By The Author

was not just his Guru and Mentor, but also his
God on Earth. We all need a coach, a teacher to
help us understand, guide us to live life and
this book "My Guru" will inspire you to find
your Guru or to make your relationship with
your Guru more fulfilling and meaningful.

4. I will Never Die. Death is not "The End”

In the journey of his life, AiR realized many

Truths. One of the Truths was that he would
never die. The body will die, but the one who
lives in the body never dies. We are not the
bodies that we wear; we are the ones who
wear the body. Death is not the end. It is a
bend to transcend. This book reveals the
Truth about Death.

5. Death is Not "The End". Death is

"Liberation"

Death is Not "The End". Death is "Liberation"

– the second book in the series of books on
death by AiR – touches upon the secret of the
Kathopanishad, which talks about what
happens at death. One of two things happen
– if we think we are the body and mind as a
doer, we are reborn. But if we think we are
not the body and mind, but the Energy, we
are liberated to eternal joy and peace.

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 Books By The Author

6. I am not I. Who am I?

I am not I. Who am I? – is a very interesting

book by AiR, which talks of his quest and
realization that we are not who we think we
are. We have a house, but we are not the
house. We have a car, but we are not the car.
We have a body, but we are not the body. We
may have a mind, but we are not the mind.
Who are we? Realize the Truth.

7. The Mind is a Rascal

Can you believe that the mind is a rascal? You

always thought that the mind is king – it is
everything. But just try this. Sit quietly for an
hour, and try to find the mind. Where is it?
You will find the mind doesn't exist. This
amazing book by AiR will teach us that the
mind is our enemy. It is the one that makes us
suffer. It is time to find the rascal and to kill it.
How do you do it?

8. A Cosmic Drama

This book authored by AiR challenges us to

think that whatever is happening in life is not
real. It is nothing but a drama. The earth is a big
stage, and we are all actors who come and go.
There is no need to worry and cry till we die. If

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Books By The Author

we understand the Truth, we can enjoy the show

called life.

9. Who is God? Where is God? What is God?

Well, this might seem to be a simple set of

questions, but nobody really knows the
answers. We all know that God exists. We
pray to a God as per our religion but what is
the Truth about God? Has anybody seen
God? Where is God? This simple book will
change your perception and belief about God
and bring you closer to this Power called
God. It will help you realize God.

10. The A to Z of Karma

Most people are aware of the concept of Karma

– the Law. What you give is what you get. But
not everybody knows the A to Z of Karma,
that we can actually transcend Karma, escape
from it and achieve Moksha, Nirvana, Liberation
or Enlightenment. This book reveals the secret
– of eternal joy and peace - a life without any
misery or suffering.

11. Who Are You & Why Are You Here?

'Who are you and why are you' here is a simple book
which challenges us to discover the secret of our life.
Most of us think we are the body-mind complex, but in

122
 Books By The Author

reality, we are not. The body will die and

return to dust. Where is the mind, we cannot
find. Who are we in reality? And beyond that
what is the purpose of life on earth. This book
will give you all the answers.

12. The 4th Factor

Man thinks that he can achieve anything. He

believes that there is nothing in this world he
can't do. But, he doesn't realize that his efforts
and equipment are not enough to decide the
results of his actions. Sometimes, he does his
best but things don't work out the way he
wants. He then realizes the importance of the
4th Factor, a factor that makes the possible,
possible and without its consent even the
possible becomes impossible.

13. Be Happy in the NOW!

Every human being on earth wants to be

Happy. There is nobody who enjoys pain.
People want to achieve Happiness but they fail
to realize that Happiness is the journey itself,
not the destination. Then, what is the secret of
eternal joy, bliss, and peace? It is being Happy
in the NOW. Every time we let the suffering of
yesterday take charge of our life, we destroy the
joy of today. When our thoughts anxiously
jump into what may happen in the future, we

123
Books By The Author

lose the tranquility of the present moment. We seem to

be like helpless monkeys jumping from one branch to
another, from yesterday to tomorrow. And in the
bargain, we lose the gift of being Happy in the present.
With this book, AiR hopes to inspire people to live life
moment by moment, if they really want to be Happy.

14. Questions You Must Answer Before You Die!

Most of us live and die but we don’t ask the

question – Why? We just exist! We don’t want
to invest time in asking essential questions
which are actually needed to lead a fulfilling
and blissful life. There are so many critical
questions that we must answer before our
journey of life is over. What will happen to us
after we die? Who created this universe? How
can we be Happy all the time? Who is God,
where is God, what is God? Like this, there are
so many questions which we are ignorant
about and somehow, we believe that ignorance
is bliss. We blissfully live in ignorance till we
die. Isn’t it time to stop and ask questions?

15. Suffer No More

Suffer No More is a personal experience of

overcoming anguish, anxiety, distress, and grief.
We all suffer physical pain. Who on earth can
escape from it? But while there is pain, can

124
 Books By The Author

we do away with the suffering? What is suffering?

While we all experience it, have we gone on a quest to
understand what the primary cause of misery is? We
live in this ignorance, this myth, that suffering is an
unavoidable part of life.We can be free from suffering if
only we realize that we are the prisoners of negative
emotions that continue to make us miserable. Suffer No
More is an analysis of suffering, what causes it and how
we can overcome it. If one wants to truly live with
eternal joy and everlasting peace, it’s possible! This book
will help you Realize the Truth and Suffer No More!

16. Success is not Happiness... Happiness is Success

Everybody wants to succeed. If one goes deep into the

psychology of winning, one will realize that people
want to win because this makes them Happy, just as
failure makes them miserable. People want to succeed
and they do everything possible to win because they
want to be Happy. In fact, humanity, by and large,
believes that Success is like a cause, of which
Happiness is the effect. In the present book the
readers will discover the reality that Success equals
Happiness is an illusion. No doubt Success creates a
sense of gratification that makes us Happy but Real
Happiness is beyond achievement. It is contentment
and fulfillment. It's time for us to realize the Truth.
Instead of chasing Success to be Happy, we should
try to be Happy. That is true Success. We must realize
that Success is not the

125
Books By The Author

Truth. Instead of chasing Success to be Happy, we

should try to be Happy. That is true Success. We must
realize that Success is not Happiness, Happiness is
Success. Happiness, Happiness is Success.

17. God = Happiness

We understand what it means to be happy,

especially when we compare it to those times when
we are miserable and unhappy. But how exactly is
our state of joy or sorrow connected to God,
remains a mystery. Yes, we pray thinking of God as
somebody in heaven who has a magic wand with
which he controls our Happiness. But is this true or
is there something else that we are ignorant about?
In his quest to discover
Truth and the purpose of life, the author found answers
that liberated him from misery and sorrow. He also
realized that people didn't know where exactly to search
for Happiness. All pray to God but do we know the Real
Truth about God? We may believe in any religion but
that hardly matters, because God is beyond religion.
While we evolve in life, we don't spiritually evolve to
realize that God is far more powerful than what we
imagine. This book is not about religion. It takes us far
beyond religion to Realize the Truth about God and
how God is Happiness.

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 Books By The Author

18. Life! Realized!!

Coming Soon

19. True Love is Bliss... Not Just a Kiss

||Om Namah Shivaya|| ||Shivoham||

Visit or Scan the QR Code

A . i. R .
to download the AiR - Atman in Ravi App. AiR Institute of Realization
www.air.ind.in | air@air.ind.in Ask Investigat e Realize

127
Life! Realized!!

This book shares my journey of Self-Realization. For 50 years, I lived a life

of ignorance believing in myths and suffered. I, then, started my quest and
realized many truths about life. This book shares my realizations so that it
can inspire the world to realize the truth about life.

What did I realize?

• Everybody wants to be happy but instead of being happy, we are chasing

success so that we can achieve happiness. Ultimately, we suffer.

• We all pray to a God but we don’t really know who God is, where God
is, what God is. God is the Creator, a Universal Power beyond human
comprehension. We must realize God within.

• We think we are ‘ME’- Mind and Ego. We don’t realize who we truly
are. We are the Divine Life Energy - The Soul.

• We all know that we come empty-handed and go empty-handed. We

are imprisoned in ignorance that doesn’t let us realize the truth.

• The mind is a rascal. It doesn’t let us realize that this world is a

humongous stage on which a Cosmic Drama is unfolding as per the
Law of Karma.

It’s time to realize the truth about life. This book has 52 such realizations
that will help you realize the truth about life.
 This book was distributed courtesy of:

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